


Veils

by acoolgirl



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Madge and Gale through the games, Romance, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, Unplanned Pregnancy, as canon compliant as I could make it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 05:28:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20848262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acoolgirl/pseuds/acoolgirl
Summary: They say a soulmate healed any wound. Madge thinks the world is too hurt for such a thing to exist.  Gale just thinks it's bullshit.





	Veils

From a rather young age, Madge had decided that rules were made to be broken. For the most part, this decision had brought forth the few instances of excitement and fulfillment in her otherwise stale life. She didn’t regret breaking rules.

She just wishes she hadn’t broken _ this _rule.

If she had just been a better daughter, this wouldn’t have happened. 

It all started when she woke up. She hadn’t expected the day to be any different than the one before, yet the child within her still eagerly hoped for _ any _attention from her Mother on this special day.

Silently, she had crept into her parent’s bedroom, hoping for a smile, or even better, a kiss.

All she was greeted with was her absent Father and a doped up Mother.

A wave of vile anger had begun to snake through her veins. It clouded her cool rationality until she wanted to hiss and spit and shake her Mother awake.

This was the seventh birthday in a row Mother had decided to forego in favor of a needle in her skin. She was 15 now, more than old enough to understand that she was sick and needed her medicine, but at that moment Madge allowed the ugliest, cruelest part of her to take over.

And so she snuck into Father’s office and broke both a household rule and a law of Panem. 

She watched the 50th Hunger Games.

Oh, how dearly she regrets that decision, and so many levels. For one, it was downright traumatizing to watch a girl that was near identical to her brutally murdered, but it also made Madge realize why this game was forbidden from the public eye.

Before watching her late Aunt spend her last few days on the screen, Madge had thought that soulmates was simply a tall tale from the Seam. After all, having your wounds heal by being near your soulmate was simply preposterous and unscientific. Until she saw it happen before her very eyes.

16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy accidentally cuts his finger open as he sharpens a stick into a spear. Aunt Maysilee has just touched his shoulder in concern when the wound reseals itself immediately. The screen immediately switches to a different tribute.

But Madge cannot forget what she’s seen. It feels like ice-cold water has been dumped onto her skin, and the shock travels straight to her core. 

Eventually, Maysilee and Haymitch return to the screen, and as Madge watches her Aunt part with Mr. Abernathy on the basis that she “did not want it to come down to the two of them”, she begins to understand why Mr. Abernathy is an alcoholic. 

Her bile burns her throat just as harshly as her tears do her eyes as she watches candy pink birds tear apart Maysilee’s neck. She should turn it off, walk out of the room as if this never happened, but she can’t, because she needs to see _ why _Maysilee died if she and Haymitch were truly soulmates. 

Her heart beats so loudly in her ears as the blood splurts out of her Aunt’s neck like the large fountains they always display in the Capital that Madge can’t hear her gasp miserably for breath. 

When Haymitch finally reaches her side, Madge finally gets the answer to her burning question.

Her Aunt had died because he was too late.

Even as Haymitch had pressed his hands to her neck, trying desperately to hold her blood in as his tears fell onto her starch-white face, he had arrived seconds too late. She was already gone.

With shaking fingers, Madge ejects the tape and turns the T.V off. She returns to her room and doesn’t leave it for the rest of the day. 

Perhaps soulmates had to heal you because love poisons you. 

Her Mother and Mr. Abernathy were good proof of that. 

She can’t decide what she fears more: a world where she has a soulmate, or one where she doesn’t.

* * *

The next day is Monday, forcing her out of room and out into the frigid February streets to go to school. She walks alone, her fur coat doing a good job of warming her, though her exposed face feels as if its moments away from shattering into a million tiny ice particles.

She’s just by the school gates when a strong gale wind singes her eyes, forcing her to pause and cover her face with her forearm. When the gust passes, she lowers her arm and blinks, trying to restore moisture to her frozen eyeballs.

The first thing she sees once her vision thaws is another Gale, but this one is herding his younger brothers into the sparse schoolyard instead of knocking her over. Actually, considering how her heart always hammers when he’s around, she wouldn’t be surprised if one day she _ did _ fall over if he got too close.

_ What if he’s- _

Madge immediately shuts that thought down. Fine, she could admit to herself that she had a crush on the tall Seam boy, but there was _ no _ way he could be _ her _ soulmate.

_ After all _ , she thinks sullenly as she watches him disappear into the brick building, _ your soulmate wouldn’t hate you. _

* * *

She can’t help but feel unhinged now that she knows soulmates are real.

Was the fact that her Mother was so sickly proof that she and Father weren’t soulmates? Or did your soulmate only heal wounds of the flesh, not mind? If she found her soulmate, did that mean she would just drop everything and marry them? If she _ didn’t _find him, would she get married anyways?

If she could expunge this truth from her mind, she would in a second. Instead, she wonders if Gale has ever tried to test with any of the many girls he took up to Slag Heap to see if they were soulmates. 

Her traitorous mind envisions the two of _ them _up there. He would bring her wrist to his mouth and bite down until he drew blood. By the time she’d bring her hand down, there would only be faint marks of his teeth on her flesh.

With a frustrated shriek, Madge grabs the front of her hair and picks up her pencil.

_ Shut up and do your math homework, Madge! _

* * *

There are plenty of times she gets mildly injured that year, but not once does she experience a miraculous healing. It should be noted, however, that she went to great extremes to make sure she was scratchless when summer came around and Gale Hawthorne began reappearing beside Katniss Everdeen to sell her strawberries. 

She couldn’t help it. The more time that passed, the deeper her feelings grew for him and all his angry fire.

What started out as a tiny seed was now a fully-bloomed garden in her lungs, and while the flowers were beautiful, it was growing difficult to breathe. Still, she could not help but love each and every silken petals.

That’s why she can’t be injured in front of him. Because the day she has indisputable proof that he isn’t her soulmate will be the same day her heart will break through her chest and leave her forever.

* * *

Summer passes and it’s a new school year. She’s able to more or less push aside the whole soulmate fiasco aside and focus on other things. That is, until word goes around that Gale Hawthorne is in love with Katniss Everdeen.

She doesn’t know why it feels like a knife in her side. If there was anyone that saw this coming, it was her. But the first time after hearing that and seeing the two hunters walking beside each other through town square is enough for her to practically sprint home and sit on the floor of her shower, pretending her tears were simply water droplets.

As the bathroom fogs up, her mind begins to clear.

He wasn’t hers, he never was, so why was she reacting so adversely? Hell, Gale probably didn’t even view her as a human, much less a friend! Still, images of Gale’s large hands around Katniss’ narrow waist floods her vision, and Madge feels like vomiting as she imagines his lips slowly descend upon her friend’s. 

Madge shuts off the water and steps out of the shower, pulling out a razor from one of her drawers. With an almost crazed determination, she cuts a line down her forearm, then loosely wraps it in a rag.

She doesn’t need Gale Hawthorne. Today she would find her own soulmate, and together they would run off into the moonlight towards happily ever after.

After quickly dressing, she walks around Town for hours aimlessly, meeting the eyes of every man she passed as her arm continued to sting all the while, her only company the coal smog gray sky of 12.

When she returns home that night the rag is soaked with her blood and her wound has barely scabbed over.

She hates herself for it, but she’s relieved that she didn’t find her soulmate. Because foolish girl that she was, she could not bring herself to get over the boy whose gray eyes appeared in her every flowery dream.

* * *

Madge tries, she really does, but the very next day during lunch the question launches out from her mouth before she can shove it back into her stomach.

“Do you believe in soulmates?”

Katniss pauses in bringing her food to her mouth to look at her incredulously. 

“No,” she answers before resuming eating. Madge nods, but for some reason, is unable to shut up.

“Me neither,” she lies as she plays with her food. “I don’t know why people would believe in something like that.”

She thinks that’s the end of the conversation, and for a while, neither of them speak. Then, Katniss surprises her.

“My Mom,” she recalls quietly, eyes distant as she recalls a memory. “She said that whenever...whenever Dad was hurt, she’d kiss him, and he’d be perfectly fine.”

“I wish that worked with my parents,” Madge admits quietly. Katniss’ eyes flash to hers, and she thinks it’s this vulnerability that makes her open up.

“I think she’s just being nostalgic,” Katniss continues. “One time Gale’s leg got cut up really badly in the woods, and I thought how stupid anyone would be to believe a kiss would heal it. Love makes people impractical.”

Madge’s fork drops from her fingers, but Katniss is too consumed in her post-rant feelings to notice her shock. 

Gale and Katniss weren’t soulmates. She’s a disgustingly wretched friend, but the news elates her. 

“I will never get married,” Katniss vows, stabbing her sparse food angrily. Any happiness Madge felt disappears. If there was someone who deserved a soulmate that loved them unconditionally, it was Katniss.

Madge is repulsed by herself. For so long, she’s lived as a shallow ditz, daydreaming about a soulmate who may not even exist while so much suffering went on around her. What happened to her goal of becoming a mine engineer? With her resources and background coupled with such an education, she knew she could make major safety improvements in the ancient coal mine. 

_ That’s right _ Madge also vows. _ I will be among the 3 students they’ll choose at the end of high school to go into the engineering corps, and I will do my part in making the world a better place. _

Madge stays true to her promise and doesn’t think about soulmates until the reaping of the 74th game.

* * *

“Madge, I need to head out now,” Father calls her from downstairs. Madge quickly buttons the last button on her dress and grabs her pin before rushing downstairs.

“You look beautiful,” Father comments with a wistful smile once she’s standing before him.

“Thank you,” Madge responds with a small smile, her body taut with nerves. Father steps forward and grasps both her shoulders before leaning down to kiss her forehead.

“Everything will turn out fine today, pearl,” he promises confidently. “Your Mother and I both love you very much.”

Madge smiles even though her heart clenches uncomfortably. She could be shipped off into a death arena today, but Mother still couldn’t wake up.

Father leaves the house and Madge just stands there for a moment, trying to collect her feelings.

_ Just one more reaping after this one, and you’re all cleared. _

Taking a deep breath, Madge unclasps her most prized possession to pin to her dress. She’s just about to put it through when the door suddenly knocks. Startled, she misses her trajectory and ends up accidentally stabbing her thumb, the needle going in rather deep.

“Damn!” Madge curses as she walks to the door, sucking on the sprouting blood. Father probably forgot something.

Except when she opens the door, it’s not her Father. It’s Gale and Katniss.

Madge tries to blame her suddenly woozy head on blood loss, but she knows that prick wasn’t enough to make her lightheaded. Thankfully, Gale ignores her entirely during the entire exchange. That is, until the end.

“Pretty dress,” he sneers as Katniss hands her the basket of strawberries. Madge pauses in taking the fruit to look at him. His gray eyes are narrowed in disdain as they slowly went up and down her body. Madge’s pale hand tightens around the wicker as she stares at his much tanner face.

“Thank you,” she replies evenly. “I want to look pretty if I go to the Capital, don’t I?”

He’s thrown off by her wit, she can tell, but Gale Hawthorne is anything but slow, and almost immediately he spits, “You won’t be going to the Capital.”

His eyes drop down to the pin that had just punctured her skin. “What can you have, five entries? I had six when I was just 12 years old.”

Madge suddenly feels very, very empty. He was right in saying there wasn’t much danger posed to her today. Not as much as there was to him. And no matter how much she wanted to deny it, this scares her more than the thought of herself getting sent to the games.

“That’s not her fault,” Katniss speaks up in defense of her. Madge wants to smile at her friend, but she’s still too shaken by Gale’s words. This past year she has worked so hard to ignore anything and all soulmate related that she had gotten herself to forget just how dangerous Gale’s odds were today. The more she learned about herself, the more she found herself disgusting.

“Good luck,” Madge forces herself to say, depositing the money into her friend’s hand. 

“You too,” Katniss says before the door closes. Madge glances down at the strawberries she has just bought, but sees her thumb and remembers her injury. Lifting it to see if she was still bleeding, Madge drops the bucket of strawberries, the red fruit rolling around her feet on the shiny hardwood as she stood as still as a stone.

There wasn’t anything on her thumb. Not even a scar.

* * *

Her heart had stopped so many times today that it was a wonder she was still standing.

She was able to hold back her tears when she visited Katniss for perhaps the very last time. She doesn’t know if she succeeded in making Katniss feel any semblance of normality, but the way her beautiful gray eyes had widened, her golden pin glowing on her dress made Madge hope that she had succeeded in conveying just how much the quiet huntress meant to her. 

Still, she isn’t able to face anyone yet, so she goes to back of the Justice Building and cries her stupid eyes out.

She’s still sobbing when a back door is opened and a very angry Gale Hawthorne is thrown out by two peacekeepers.

“Fuck you!” Gale shouts as he gets up from where they threw him, but the metal door is simply slammed in response. Madge’s idiotic nostrils decide to sniffle then.

Gale’s furious eyes whip to hers, and Madge hastily looks away but he’s already stalking towards her.

“You stole time away from me!” Gale yells loudly. Madge flinches but doesn’t say anything. Everyone got the same amount of time to say goodbye, but she knows Gale doesn’t care. He wants a punching bag, and she was conveniently located.

Her eyes water once more but she’s too emotionally exhausted to try and hide her tears from him, so she just hugs her knees tighter to her chest as she continues to cry quietly.

She waits for him to storm off and punch a tree or something, but instead, he just stands there, looking down at her as her heart breaks in fear for the only friend she has ever had.

“You gave her the pin,” he says finally. “Why?”

Madge looks up at him, but the tears clinging to her eyelashes makes it difficult to see him clearly. 

“I’m owed a d-debt,” Madge hiccups. For the second time that day, Gale is thrown off.

“What do you mean by that?” he demands, heavy brows pushed into a fierce frown.

“My Aunt w-wore the same pin in the Quarter Quell,” Madge elaborates in a scratchy voice. “M-Mr. Abernathy was supposed to save her. Now he has to save my f-friend.”

Gale just gapes at her, as if he can’t believe the words she’s saying.

“A-Also,” Madge continues, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. The more she talks, the more collected she feels. “It’s a ‘fuck you’ to the Capital...A reminder that the loved ones they’ve stolen from us are never really gone.”

Neither of them speaks for a while after that. Madge is so lost in thought, worrying about Katniss, that she startles when Gale speaks again.

“Fuck them,” Gale agrees, appearing a lot calmer. “Katniss will get out. I know she will.”

Madge observes the clear admiration he holds for Katniss in his eyes. At that moment, she truly feels bad for Gale. He had gone through so much already in his young life. 

He deserved so much happiness with the woman he loved that _ she _ should be the one on that train. 

Even if she was technically his soul mate.

“I think so too.”

* * *

The woods feel empty without Katniss. His hunting partner. His best friend. His true love.

He tries to push away his anguish as he lines up his arrow against the string of his bow, but his hands tremor too much to aim steadily.

Clenching his jaw, his mind goes back to the day they first met. How so much, yet so little had changed in the years that followed. 

_ Calm down _ he tells himself, trying to refocus _ Feed the kids. That comes before anything. _

But he can’t. As hard as Gale tries to toss away his hurt, the more fuel he throws on the fire.

It’s like that day when he’s 14 and the mine alarms are blaring and he knows without anyone telling him what has happened. That same heartbreak tears through him like a fault line, and he falls to his knees as a broken sob forces its way past his chapped lips.

“Why?” Gale asks, tipping his head back to stare at the unforgivingly gray sky. How he hated gray. “Why is love always torn away from me?”

He doubles over as the intensity of his cries increase, clutching at the dry soil with his calloused fingers. 

“I can’t live like this,” Gale cries to no one, the sounds of his misery echoing emptily. “It hurts too badly to live like this.”

Gale cries for Katniss. Gale cries for his murdered Father. For his widowed Mother. For his hungry siblings. For Prim and Mrs. Everdeen. But in that moment, Gale mostly just cries for himself, something he hasn’t done since infancy.

By the time his tears run out, he falls onto his back, emotionally exhausted. The sun shines on his face but he feels none of its warmth.

Suddenly, a quiet but beautiful melody breaks through the heavy silence.

Glancing to the left, Gale finds a mockingjay nestled within the branches of a tree, calmly preening itself.

The melody is echoed by another mockingjay, and soon Gale is surrounded by their orchestra.

_ That’s right _ he remembers _ Katniss has that mockingjay pin now. _

A pin given by Undersee of all people. Perhaps he had been harsh in his judgment of the quiet girl’s character.

Slowly sitting up, he thinks this over.

That’s right. He could be wrong about Undersee, which means he could be wrong about other things too. Things like dying alone and unhappy and hungry.

Gale hops back up and shakes his head, disturbed that he had allowed such weakness to overcome him. He knew Katniss better than anyone in 12, and he _ knew _ that if there was anyone that had a shot at winning the Hunger Games, it was his girl.

He closes his eyes as he imagines the glinting pin above her heart, silver eyes shining as she fights, harder than anyone he’s ever known to fight. 

“Do your best Katniss,” Gale calls back up to the sky with a slight smile, eyes fluttering open. “And don’t worry about the rest. I’ve got your back.”

* * *

After the horror show that was the first-day bloodbath of the Games, Madge can’t stop herself from going to the edge of 12, staring sullenly at the woods that housed her friend’s happiness.

She imagines her and Katniss venturing into the trees, hand in hand, surrounded by bright green trees and singing mockingjays. They would have no worries, just two wild-child girls running barefoot, long hair tangling in the air as their laughter rang up and down through the valley. 

Instead, the mountains of her beloved Appalachia are chained off to her by a fence she is too cowardly to cross alone.

But as she takes a deep breath, the grass of the meadow tickling her bare ankles, Madge resolves herself to be braver.

“Just come back, Katniss,” she whispers into the wind, knowing that someday, someway, her love would reach her friend’s heart. “I’ll take care of the rest.”  
  


* * *

There was no other way to explain it. This was _ bad _. 

They were in the midst of a district-wide blackout, but Madge wouldn’t be surprised if the entire country was in the dark right now.

It’s too hot to be indoors right now without the A.C running, so she decides she may as well make her weekly visit to the Everdeen household to drop off food. 

The walk there is uneventful, and after a terse conversation with Mrs. Everdeen and an overly hopeful Primrose, Madge makes her way back home and thinks about what they had all just seen on their screens.

Katniss had just found Peeta following the announcement that there could be two victors this year. While she was washing away the layers of dirt caked onto him, the ghastly wound on his upper thigh had been revealed. 

The camera had zoomed into the lacerated flesh; the Capital always had an appetite for gore. Their bloodlust however had, for just the tiniest of moment’s, revealed Peeta’s wound slowly closing in on itself. Thus the blackout.

Madge couldn’t believe it. Katniss and Peeta were soulmates. Would this help or jeopardize their chances of getting out? Historically speaking, the odds weren’t in their favor.

“Undersee.”

Madge jumps nearly a mile in the air.

“Gale!” Madge gasps, hand on her heart as she whips around. 

He rolls her eyes as he approaches her. His tread even on the gravel is nearly silent. 

“Why are you here so late?” he asks directly as he comes to a stop before her.

Madge drops her gaze to her feet and doesn’t respond. She knew that Gale would probably get angry if he found out she was giving “charity” to the Everdeen’s when he was in charge of taking care of them.

“I was just walking,” she answers awkwardly. This sounds too lame alone, so she adds, “And thinking.”

“Always dangerous when blondes do that,” Gale remarks dryly. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

Madge stares at his retreating back with her jaw hanging open. Why was he being so nice to her all of a sudden?

Gale looks over at his shoulder impatiently. “I don’t have all night, princess.”

Snapping herself out of her daze, Madge rushes forward to catch up with him. Even once she’s beside him she has to practically jog to keep up with his long strides.

“I gotta give it to Mellark,” Gale says offhandedly. “Son of a bitch thought up one helluva plot to get his ass out alive.”

“I think he was more focused on Katniss,” Madge points out. She expects Gale to get angry at this, but he just shrugs.

“Anything that’ll help Katniss, I’ll support,” he explains as they continue walking under the full moon. “I feel bad that she has to pretend to like that loser, but it’ll all be over soon enough.”

His words rub her the wrong way. She stops walking and glares at him.

“Who are you to call Peeta a loser?” Madge says through clenched teeth. “Up until now he’s done everything in his power to keep Katniss alive.”

Gale rolls his eyes once more. “It’s just a tactic to get sponsors, princess. Believe me, as soon as she’s useless to him, he’ll drop her faster than a piece of hot coal.”

“That won’t happen, because she’s his soulmate!” Madge explodes. Gale’s expression of shock only fuels her to go further. “Why do you think we’re in a blackout, dummy? You saw his leg heal just like me.”

The adrenaline of the moment passes and Madge wants to punch herself in the mouth. Gale’s expression darkens dangerously, and she knows she’s messed things up. _ Badly. _

“You’re as stupid as you are vapid,” Gale hisses, walking back towards her until he’s towering over her. “There’s no such thing as _ soulmates _!”

“Then what was that we saw with Peeta’s leg?” Madge counters defiantly, Gale’s insulting words riling her up all over again. “Katniss once told me your leg got hurt badly in the woods. Did it heal like that?” 

She’s only thrown fuel on an already raging fire.

“Shut the fuck up!” Gale shouts, entire body shaking with rage. She sees his hands twitch and wonders if he wants to hit her. “Look around, do you really think soulmates would exist in a world as shitty as this?”

“Maybe the world is so shitty because we don’t _ allow _soulmates to exist!” Madge shouts back. 

Gale shoves her and although it honestly wasn’t even that forceful of an action, it takes her off guard and she staggers back a few times before she lands roughly on her behind. She sits there, stunned that Gale had done this to her. For a moment, he looks almost _ ashamed, _but before she can think he regrets his actions, the mask is back.

“If soulmates do exist, man, do I pity whoever is unlucky enough to be _ yours.” _

Madge lifts her scraped hands and watches the tiny cuts disappear. She looks up to show Gale, but he’s already walking away.

“You already do,” Madge calls out to him bitterly. He pauses for a moment but shakes his head and continues on his way.

* * *

The next time Madge sees Gale, Katniss and Peeta are being crowned victors while all of 12 stands in the square as witnesses to a truly historic moment.

The conclusion of the games has affirmed many things to Madge, but perhaps the most prominent being that Katniss is aware of just who is Peeta, and she seems to have...accepted it.

But as her friend prances on the screen in her beautiful yellow dress, Madge watches Gale with a heavy heart. His face is closed off, and eyes completely devoid of any spirit.

She yearns to reach out and embrace him. To reassure him that to her, he was a superior human being, even when he showed her his ugliest side. That she loved him very much, years before she even knew soulmates were real. 

Instead, there is an uncrossable chasm between them, and she has to stand on the opposite end of the square.

The square begins to disperse once the post-game interview concludes, but Madge remains rooted in her spot where she leans against what used to be the candy shop.

Her own teenage melodrama aside, she was well aware that District 12 as they knew it was dangling on a very dangerous precipice. What Katniss did with the berries could be described in no other way but as an act of revolt. And if there was one thing more oppressed than the hope of a soulmate, it was the idea of a rebellion. The worry that constantly settled on her Father’s shoulders was proof enough that her suspicions had basis in reality.

“Looks like you were right.”

Madge looks up to the image of a Gale Hawthorne that seems to have shrunk into himself. He’s still just as tall and imposing as ever, but it’s like the very _ essence _of him has slipped out and sunk into the crevices of the earth.

“Always am,” Madge tries to joke, but it comes out flat and jilted.

Gale’s right eye twitches but other than that he makes no move to show her words have angered him. 

“What, specifically, are you referring to though?” Madge asks in an attempt to alleviate the tension between them.

Gale’s eyes flutter closed as a shudder goes up and down his huge frame.

“I’ve kissed countless girls,” he begins darkly. Madge tries not to wince at this. “Probably fucked even more.” At this Madge _ does _wince. “But the one girl I truly want to kiss...I never have.”

“And even though I’ve never kissed her,” Gale continues, eyes slowly opening to reveal his pain. “I know that she’d never kiss me the way she kissed Mellark.”

“Gale, you can’t think like that,” Madge sighs, shaking her head slightly. “You’re-”

“I’m a loser!” Gale bellows, cutting her off. “A fucking failure in every regard!”

“No, you’re not!” Madge tries to tell him, but her words seem to be lost on him as his turmoil mounts, and before she can stop him, Gale swings his arm back and bunches the brick wall. 

Madge should have run away. 

Instead, she just idiotically stands there as Gale’s face morphs from an expression of agony to shock. When he slowly pulls his arm back to reveal his rapidly healing knuckles, this time it is _ Madge _who wants to tiredly close her eyes. 

Gale’s astonished eyes move from his nearly healed hand to her face, and she knows that now _ he _knows. 

She turns on her heel and runs away from him as fast as she can. He doesn’t once try to stop her.

* * *

She puts on a blue dress. If she could have her way, she would dress in her usual drab, gray clothes. But she has to celebrate while inside she grieves, and she figures blue is the best color to fool the world and not clash with her mellow heart. 

12’s single train station is brimming with reporters as everyone waits for the star crossed lovers to return. Little Prim is smiling so widely it’s a wonder her face doesn’t split into two. Gale isn’t even pretending to be excited as he stands away from the crowd, hands deep in his pockets.

The rumbling of an incoming train diverts her attention from him, and Madge watches as it screeches to a stop. Katniss and Peeta emerge from the train, hand in hand.

Madge has to only take one look at Katniss’ face to confirm that something is indeed terribly wrong. A cold sense of dread washes over her as the two victors step onto the platform, swarmed by their loving “fans” and family.

If she could only reach into her friend’s mind and speak to her there, reassure her somehow that this would all turn out alright. Instead, she stands by helplessly as Katniss flashes smiles that don’t reach her eyes like lightning during a winter storm. 

The two of them slowly make their way out of the station, Prim clinging to her older sister the entire time, and with them follows the paparazzi. 

Sticking her hands in her pockets, she turns around to face the horizon from where the train had sped in from. Just a little down the rail stands a steam locomotive that carries 12’s coal out. Madge wonders if when their rusty, ancient trains pass through other districts, they know it’s from 12, the district trapped in time. 

Except Katniss has restarted the clock of 12. And Madge knows deep down in her bones that time was going to run out.

“What are you thinking about?”

Madge looks to the side and finds Gale standing a little way from her, also watching the tracks with a clouded expression.

“Shoes,” Madge answers sarcastically. Gale glares at her for a moment before shaking his head.

“You know, I’m glad you’re my soulmate,” he says casually as Madge’s lungs forget how to operate. 

“Y-you are?” Madge stutters, face burning as she took in his impassive profile.

Gale nods. “Yeah. It’s made me realize this is all bullshit.”

Her mouth opens and closes, but she makes no sound. In that moment, she feels as if she can never speak again.

“When I found out those two were _ soulmates _ , I was heartbroken,” Gale continues as if he isn’t breaking _ her _ heart. “But know that I know _ we’re _soulmates? It means nothing romantically. I’m more compatible with a piece of coal than with you. If anything, this is probably biology just telling me you’d be really easy to knock up.”

Something snaps inside of Madge. She takes two steps towards him and slaps him. _ Hard _.

“The fuck?” Gale exclaims as he reaches up to cradle his red cheek. 

“If you aren’t interested in me, that’s fine,” Madge tells him angrily. “But I won’t allow you to speak so crudely about me. You can chase after Katniss all you want, but you cannot disrespect me like this.”

Madge can’t help but feel annoyed when he removes his hand and his cheek has already returned to its dark color. 

“I _ will _chase after Katniss,” Gale vows as a train’s lonely siren wails in the background. “Because it was her who was with me in my darkest days. It was her who gave me my happiest days. She’s the one I love and belong with, and I know deep down, she believes the same.”

_ We’re all in terrible danger, _is what she wants to tell him. But the fact is come this September Gale’s life will be in danger every day he goes down into the mines. 

She has no way of protecting him from that, but she can protect him from this truth, if only for a little while.

So, instead, Madge just nods and walks away from him.

“Have a good life, Gale.”

* * *

The fall following the 74th games feels as if 12 is stuck in this limbo of the unknown. The best way Madge could describe it would be like having a loose noose around your neck that tightened just a little more each day.

Still, they go about their lives. Katniss and Peeta tiptoe around each other. Madge becomes Katniss’ closest friend, and Gale is broken down by the mines. 

She doesn’t know how Gale’s plan of wooing Katniss is going except that Katniss doesn’t seem to spend very much time with him, and doesn’t seem too bothered by that. Perhaps it’s counter-intuitive, but she truly feels bad for Gale. Probably because she knows how it feels to carry an unreciprocated love.

However, she’s made a commitment to herself to forget about Gale, and puts all of herself into her duties as a friend, daughter, and student. 

* * *

The first time Katniss takes Madge into the woods, she feels as if she’s stepped into a dream, the ethereal yellow and reds of autumn surrounding her like a cloud of magic.

That first visit, Madge mostly just stood there wide-eyed, taking in as much as she can as Katniss went about her foraging routine. She just couldn’t believe how _ large _ the world was. How clean air could be. How at _ ease _she could feel.

Unable to help herself, Madge had rushed over to Katniss to sweep her into a tight hug. Madge wasn’t surprised that Katniss hadn’t pushed her away, after all, she thought of her well enough to bring her to her sanctuary, but she _ was _surprised when Katniss hugged back.

“Thank you for bringing me out here,” she whispered into her neck. “It means the world to me.”

“Thank you...for being here with me,” was all Katniss had whispered back.

After that, their relationship began to change, for the better.

No longer are they friends by coincidence, rather, they’ve become friends because their hearts were finally connected.

Madge truly realizes this when she’s out once more in the woods with Katniss. She’s perched atop a boulder as Katniss scales a tree to retrieve a nest of eggs.

“It’s a full one,” Katniss calls down to her.

“That’s good,” she calls back. They both ignore these eggs will be delivered to the Hawthorne household.

Katniss carefully packs the eggs into her bag before making her way back down to her. Taking a seat beside her, the two girls simply stare out at the beauty in front of them.

“Can I...can I talk to you about something,” Katniss suddenly blurts, immediately looking like she regretted saying anything.

Madge blinks in surprise but quickly responds.

“Of course you can,” she tells her friend kindly. “What’s up?”

Her dark-haired friend fidgets uncomfortably, not making eye contact with her. 

“I know you don’t care about these things,” she begins quietly. “But yesterday...Gale kissed me.”

Madge feels as if she’s been punched in the stomach. Inhaling sharply, she looks away from Katniss, desperately trying to control the sudden swarm of emotions threatening to spill out of her.

“I see,” she responds evenly after a moment of turmoil. “Did you kiss him back?”

“No,” Katniss sighs tiredly. “I kinda just stood there. I didn’t know what to do.”

“And what did _ he _do?” Madge tries to ask nonchalantly, even though she’s dying to know the answer.

“He just said he had to try, just once,” Katniss answers awkwardly. “It was terrible Madge. He just looked so sad. I hate that I’m the reason he feels like that, but I just can’t…”

“Katniss,” Madge interrupts her gently, clasping a supportive hand on her narrow shoulder. “You shouldn’t feel guilty for rejecting Gale. The truth is you don’t want to be in a romantic relationship with him, and nothing can change that except your own feelings towards the topic.”

“He thinks I want to be in a relationship with Peeta!” Katniss exclaims, eyes both frantic and tired. “But he doesn't understand that I can’t be with _ anyone _like that, not when I’m constantly afraid that I’m going to die. It feels like the Games never ended for me.”

“And you don’t have to be in a relationship with anyone,” Madge assures her. “Your main priority should always be you and your health. My advice to you is instead of feeling like you have to choose between Peeta and Gale, you should realize you don’t have to pick neither and work on feeling better.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever feel better,” Katniss whispers as tears well up in her beautiful eyes. 

Madge sighs and pulls Katniss into her side. She knew no words could offer her comfort in that moment. All she could do was assure her she wasn’t alone.

  


* * *

It’s a bitterly cold day in November when she’s walking home from the grocers, her arms filled with heavy paper bags. She can’t really see where she’s going, so she walks slowly and through back alleyways, where she’s less likely to bump into someone. 

She’s chastising herself for not wearing her fur mittens when it feels as if her thigh has been split open. With a scream of pain, Madge collapses sideways, her groceries falling with her. 

Clutching her throbbing leg, she looks up with clenched teeth and finds a pair of young Seam boys quickly gathering her fallen bags. One of them is holding a metal rod that Madge assumes is what they hit her with.

“Please, I need that food for my Mother,” Madge says through her tears. She tries to get up, but even the slightest pressure on her leg makes her feel as if she’s about to faint. 

“And I need it for my Mother, Father and four siblings!” one of them hisses.

“I’ll give you some food, but I need some too,” Madge tries to bargain, but she’s ignored. She tries once more to get up, and has raised herself halfway up when her leg buckles beneath her and she lands on her face roughly.

“Hey!”

Madge’s eyes fly open. The two boys share a look of terror before sprinting off with as much as they can carry.

“Come back here!” Gale shouts, but the two of them have already disappeared. With a curse, he comes to a stop next to her and crouches down.

“Are you ok?” he asks, moving her hair so he can see her face. 

Madge bites her lip and hastily wipes at her fallen tears as she tries to sit up. Gale actually reaches for her and helps her settle against the wall behind her. 

“My leg,” she admits in a watery voice. “They hit it with a rod.”

Gale curses under his breath.

“Can I?” Gale asks gingerly, hovering his hand over her thigh. Madge averts her eyes and shrugs. A moment later is large hand practically encircles the entirety of her thigh, and with it comes to sweetest relief from the pain.

“They’re slashing wages at the mine,” he explains with a sigh. “I’m not surprised this happened.”

“They’ve reduced our monthly stipend as well,” Madge says, wincing as she readjusts her leg. “I’m gonna have to make it last with whatever they couldn’t take.”

“I’m sorry for pushing you,” he apologizes suddenly. “It was wrong of me to take my anger out on you.”

Madge ducks her head to hide her warming cheeks.

“It’s ok,” she murmurs. “I know I can be annoying.”

Gale shakes his head. 

“That’s no excuse. If anyone tries to hurt you, you come get me, alright?” 

Madge finally looks up at him, but his eyes are distant as they stare off into space. The circles under his eyes are darker than she’s ever seen them to be, and his cheeks seem gaunt. If Madge had held any grudge against him for pushing her, it would have dispelled this very moment as she watched how _ exhausted _he looked.

“They’re going to kill us,” he says quietly. “If things continue like this, no one in the Seam is going to survive.”

“They wouldn’t be so desperate to eliminate something unless they were scared of it,” Madge says softly, laying her hand over his. The tones of their skin color contrast starkly, and yet, look so right together. 

Gale scoffs. “What do they have to be scared of?”

Madge’s reply is immediate. “People like you.”

Gale’s eyes snap to hers, and for a moment the gray surrounding the black of his pupils draw her in until everything around her becomes artificial, the only thing real the air between them.

But then he blinks and the trance is broken. Madge swats his hand away from her leg and gets up with practically no pain. As quickly as she can, she gathers the sparse groceries left behind and shoves them in the single bag she has left. 

“I kissed Katniss,” he tells her as she shoves a can of tomato paste in. Madge pretends she’s never heard of this as that stew of hideous envy begins to boil in her stomach.

“And I was right,” he continues, making Madge freeze as she reaches for the canned tomatoes. “It was nothing like her kiss with Peeta.”

“My condolences,” Madge mutters with an eye roll. Did she have THERAPIST written across her forehead?

“I wonder if some of us were just born to be miserable, and then die,” Gale says to the brick wall. He looks ragged, standing there in his threadbare coat and blackened hands with chipped fingernails. 

Madge has to look away from him, because ultimately, it hurts _ her _when he’s hurting, even if all she wants is to be aggravated with him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really been happy in my life,” Madge finally says. “So maybe you’re right.”

He takes a step towards her but Madge has already turned around. She’s tired of Gale ignoring her for months on end, and then coming up to talk to her about his woes. It wasn’t fair for him to treat her like this, especially when all he saw her was as breeding stock.

“Goodbye, Gale.”

He calls after her, but she simply speeds up.

* * *

When she finally gets home from her mugging, she’s exhausted and wants nothing more than a cup of tea and her piano.

Her plans are interrupted the moment she steps into her house. Descending the stairs is Mother’s doctor from the Capital, Dr. Klein. 

Dr. Klein was an...old, short man that in general creeped Madge out. There was just something about how his large blue eyes stared at her that unnerved her to end.

“Ah, Margaret!” Dr. Klein coos once he sees her. “How are you, beautiful girl?”

“Fine,” Madge responds tightly. “How is Mother?”

Dr. Klein encircles her as his owl-like eyes take in her every feature.

“As well as the woman can be,” he reassures her, coming to a slow stop in front of her. “It’s been so very long since I last saw you. You’re nearly a woman now.”

“I’m only 16,” Madge reminds him as she clenches her suddenly clammy fists. 

“If my memory serves correctly, you are turning 17 soon, are you not?” he asks with a smirk. “Why, come next winter, you'll have a husband.”

The front door reopens and enters her Father, saving her from a response. But as Dr. Klein is led into Father’s study, Madge can’t help but feel as if a shackle has just been locked around her wrist.

* * *

She remembers once reading that a large clean bone break is easier to heal from than several tiny fractures. 

That’s probably why the Capital is having such a hard time quelling the unrest that splits and cracks in micro-fissures through the very seams of the nation. After all, once a populus learns soulmates do exist, who is to say a better world can’t as well?

All of this only scares Madge, however. She may be a revolutionary at heart, but the lines on her Father’s foreheads seem to deepen with each passing day, and with it forces Madge to take on a pragmatic approach to the growing civil unrest that was infesting throughout all of Panem.

Any insurrection that could manage to be born would probably come with more death than it would liberation. 

She wonders what Gale thinks of all of this. If anyone had a vision of saving the world, it was him. If anyone _ could _save this world, it was him.

* * *

Madge finds herself congregated on the train platform once more as Katniss and Peeta get ready to embark on their victory tour. 

The general atmosphere is much more...mellow than when they had arrived at the district back in the summer. 

Katniss actually finds her from the crowd and reaches out for a hug. Madge tries to squeeze as much of her love into her as she can in those few seconds, but Katniss has to pull away and the last image Madge has of her friend is the unbearable fear on her face as she turns away and climbs into the train.

Tears cloud Madge’s eyes as the train sets off into the red sunset. All Katniss had wanted was to save her sister’s life, and now her every waking moment was of sheer torture from the unknown.

“Here.”

Madge looks down and finds a large, tanned hand holding out a frayed handkerchief. Madge takes the square fabric from Gale and dabs at her eyes.

“Don’t cry,” he says to her softy. “Catnip is strong. She can get through anything.”

“That’s true,” Madge sniffles. “But that doesn’t mean she deserves to go through all of this.”

Gale sighs and she knows he agrees with her. For a while the two of them just stand there, Gale staring up at the smoggy sky and Madge crying quietly.

“You know, I was wrong about you,” Gale states quietly after she folds the handkerchief and puts it in her coat pocket. She’ll return it to him once she’s washed it. 

Madge looks up at him as she waits for him to finish his thought. Sometime ago it had begun to flurry lightly, and tiny crystals clung to his thick black hair. She resists the urge to run her hand through his inky locks. She wasn’t the girl he wanted to be touched by.

“You have a very kind heart,” Gale tells her, completely shocking her. He turns so that he’s facing her. The setting sun basked his skin in a golden hue, and he glowed against the frigid flurries that fluttered down around them. 

“I- I wouldn’t say it’s anything special,” Madge stammers, wondering where this was all coming from. “I’m just...trying to do my part.”

“That’s more than what most people can say,” Gale insists. “I hope you find some rich guy from 2 or something that will get you out of this hellhole.”

Madge’s throat tightens at his words. The butterflies that were swarming in her stomach turn into cement.

“12 is my home,” Madge reminds him hoarsely. “And I won’t leave it behind.”

Gale snorts and runs a hand through his hair, dissolving the little flurries.

“12 doesn’t give a shit about you,” he tells her dryly. “Neither should you.”

Her mid auto translates his words to:

I _ don’t give a shit about you. _

“Well I do,” Madge snaps turning around to rush out of the station.

“You always do this,” Gale calls after her angrily. “You always run away.”

This is enough to stop her in her tracks. Not turning around, she speaks to him.

“Why should I stay with someone who treats me so poorly?” she says through clenched teeth.

Behind her, Gale makes a noise of frustration. 

“I’m _ trying _to be nice to you!” he exclaims in exasperation. “If you’re expecting me to sweep you off your feet and confess my undying love, then sorry princess, but that won’t ever happen. I didn’t ask for you to be my soulmate.”

Madge refuses to let a single tear fall from her eyes.

“I’ve never expected anything from you.”

  


* * *

On the T.V in her living room, Madge watches as Peeta cuts his hand opens and holds up his bleeding palm as a smiling Katniss sits beside him. She wonders how many special effects it took to create this scene.

_ “As you can see, soulmates are a completely preposterous idea. The only thing that will heal me is medicine from the Capital!” _

Madge shuts off the T.V and looks out the bay window. She wonders if Gale is thinking of her in that moment. For a moment, she allows herself to imagine taking up his suggestion of marrying a rich man that would whisk her out of 12.

Away from him

She shakes her head. Even her bone marrow loved Gale, and if she had to choose between a perfect life without Gale and a terrible one where she still saw him occasionally as he went about his own life, she’d pick him every time. 

_ I am so stupid… _

_ ...But honest with myself. _

* * *

Peeta proposes to Katniss and the Capital goes crazy. 

Anger throughout Panem begins to bubble over. Everyone was ready to eat the nightlock if it meant freedom from the Capital, but even more than that, everyone was ready to force-feed the _ Capital _nightlock.

Madge only hopes her loved ones manage to not get burnt by these growing flames.

* * *

She holds the lunchbox to her chest tightly. She’d be damned if she let anyone steal Father’s lunch. He already wasn’t eating enough these days, and she had put a lot of love into cooking a bunch of healthy dishes for him.

It’s December and unbearably cold, so Madge tries to walk as fast as she can to the Justice Building. As she makes her way, however, she can’t help but notice that there was an unsettling feeling throughout the District. She could not explain it, but as she hurries along, she wonders what’s causing this air of fear.

She’s nearly reached her destination, when an unusually large congregation of people, both Seam and Town alike, stops her. It was like a bad omen.

They seem to have formed a circle around something happening in the square, but she can’t make out what they’re watching. Unable to walk away without finding out what was causing all the commotion, Madge joins the crowd. 

The lunchbox falls from her hands as a scene too grotesque to belong to even her worst nightmare plays out before her very eyes. 

Gale’s back lays bared to her as chunks of his flesh and mottled skin hang off of him, a puddle of blood encircling him as it seeped into the snow beneath his knees. An unknown peacekeeper raises his arm to bring his whip down once more, and at the sound of Gale’s cry, Madge falls to her knees. 

Feeling as if acid is being poured in her eyes, she watches the peacekeeper step away to reveal Gale’s shoulder bone jutting out through his lacerated flesh. 

Madge has just barely reached the edge of the closest alleyway before she’s vomiting so violently it feels as if her stomach has burst within her abdomen.

She’s crying so hard that she truly cannot see anything as her bile burns her throat. When she’s finally done, she staggers up and rushes as quickly as she can go back to the square. She doesn’t know what Gale has done, but she’ll take the rest of his punishment, even if it means a hundred whippings for herself.

Except Katniss has already rescued Gale as she stands in front of him, her own cheek bleeding as she stares down the peacekeeper defiantly. She can’t make out much of the exchange except the end, where she catches where they’ll be taking Gale.

Madge sprints home as fast as her legs will carry her. 

“Mama!” Madge screams as soon as she’s through the door. She’s still sobbing and coupled with the fact that she just ran as fast as she could for the past 10 minutes straight, she nearly blacks out as she ascends the stairs as fast as her exhausted legs will take her. 

“Madge!” Mother exclaims, meeting her in the hallway outside her room and pulling her into her arms. “My love, what’s wrong?!”

But Madge can’t speak. She can only cry and cry as her mind reimagines the whip coming down on Gale’s back over and over again.

“Speak to me, Madge,” Mother begs as she kisses the top of her head.

“G-Gale,” Madge manages through her sobs. “He’s been, he’s been w-whipped!”

“Gale, is that the boy who is your soulmate?” Mother asks urgently. Madge pauses enough in her crying to look at her in shock. 

“How d-did you know?”

Mother tucks her hair behind her ear and smiles softly at her.

“You couldn’t hide that from me even if you tried,” she says gently. “Come now, he needs your help.”

Mother tugs her into her bedroom, and Madge watches in stunned silence as she hands her her entire morphling supply for that month.

“But Mother...you need some too!” Madge tries to protest, not taking the proffered box.

She shakes her head and manually makes Madge’s hand hold the box with her own.

“I have failed my every duty as your Mother,” she says with a sad smile. “This is the least I can do for you.”

Her eyes well up with tears once more.

“Thank you,” Madge whispers as she tucks the box into her coat pocket. “I will never be able to repay you for this.”

“Margaret, my pride and hope and joy, there is no such thing as a debt owed to a person you love,” Mother chides her gently. 

“Now go,” she urges her on. “Maybe this will redeem me from the selfish life I have lived.”

“I love you, Mama,” Madge tells her honestly before she rushes down the stairs. Only to be met by her expectant Father.

“There’s a curfew,” he says as a way of greeting. “And morphling is illegal in the district.”

Madge straightens her spine. 

“He will die without this,” she tells her Father clearly. “I can’t let that happen.”

To her surprise, Father simply sighs.

“I know,” he says tiredly. “All I ask is, please, Madge, be as careful as you can.”

Madge’s face crumples and she rushes forward to hug him. He holds her tight before finally releasing her.

“Go with God,” is his final parting to her before she leaves the house and slips into the snowy tempest.

If there is a God, she just hopes he’s with Gale, not her.

* * *

It takes her hours. What with constantly hiding from Peacekeepers and the blizzard winds that slow her down tremendously.

As she trudges up a large hill, she falls to her knees as she slips on a patch of ice. Exhaustion nearly overcomes her as she pushes herself back up.

_ You can die _ Madge tells herself firmly as she slowly resumes walking _ Once Gale gets his medicine. _

By the time Madge finally reaches Katniss’ large house, she’s soaked to the bone, shivering harder than she ever has in her life, and is so tired she can barely stand. 

Still, she bangs on the mahogany door with all her might. A few moments later, a very defensive Peeta and Mr. Abernathy open the door.

“Madge!” Peeta exclaims as he takes her miserable condition in. 

“Well don’t just stand there boy, let her in!” Mr. Abernathy snaps with great agitation, more or less shoving Peeta out of the way to herd Madge in. “What in the hell were you thinking, coming here at night during a storm, pearl?”

“I brought morphling for Gale,” Madge manages to say through her violently chattering lips. 

“He’s here.”

Madge looks up to see a weepy Katniss standing by the entrance of the kitchen. With a nod, Madge forces her shaking legs forward. Mr. Abernathy wraps an arm around her waist, and she very thankfully leans some of her weight on him as she makes her way to Gale on her trembling legs.

But as soon as she steps into the kitchen, she freezes. There lies Gale on the kitchen table, bleeding through his bandages as he quietly cries through his immense pain. Her eyes seem to have not run out of tears as they flood once more. 

A middle-aged woman holds his face gently as she cries along with him.

“Oh, my poor boy,” she cries as she rests his cheek against his head. “Find ease, my son. Find ease...”

_ She’s Gale’s Mother... _

Her heart twists for the older woman as she watches her body convulse with her heartbroken sobs. 

“Did you say you have morphling, Madge?” Prim asks. Madge blinks through her tears and mechanically reaches for the box, hastily handing it over to the younger girl. She shoots her a quick smile before rushing over to where Mrs. Everdeen hovers over Gale.

Madge watches Mrs. Everdeen administer the painkillers to Gale so intently that she breathes only when his facial muscles smooth over and body relaxes. 

She’s so caught up in her relief that she doesn’t even notice that Mrs. Hawthorne has gotten up and walked over to her.

“So it’s you,” she breathes, staring at Madge with wide gray eyes. Though her years are apparent, her features are decidedly beautiful.

“Please,” she suddenly begs, tugging Madge forward. “Go closer to him. If you kiss him, it will help him even more.”

“W- What?” Madge stammers bashfully as she’s pulled along by his Mother. 

“Don’t act coy!” she scolds as she shoves her onto a stool next to him. “He needs you terribly right now, dear girl.”

She can practically _ feel _the realization go through the kitchen. 

“With the morphling and her, he’ll pull through completely,” Mrs. Everdeen says in a distant voice. 

“Why the hell has everyone suddenly decided this to be true?” Mr. Abernathy asks angrily. “Madge, are you sure _ he’s _the one?”

“Just look at his face!” Mrs. Hawthorne exclaims. “He became calmer the moment she stepped in the house!”

Mr. Abernathy shoots her a dark look. “I’m speaking to Madge.”

“Yes,” Madge speaks up, tongue feeling like a carpet in her mouth. “He is. I’ve known for two years now.”

Mr. Abernathy opens his mouth before shutting it closed again, a look of defeat on his face. 

“I guess we should give you two privacy?” Prim suggests. If Madge wasn’t so cold she’d be sure her cheeks would be scarlett. 

“I’ll get you some towels,” Peeta volunteers kindly.

“You can borrow some of my clothes,” Katniss speaks up for the first time. Madge looks at her and finds that her friend looks both uncomfortable and relieved. 

Mr. Abernathy stalks out of the kitchen muttering to himself. Prim and Mrs. Everdeen continue working on whatever salve they were making and Katniss and Peeta leave to get the towel and clothing. Madge stares at Gale’s sleeping face the entire time.

A hand on her shoulder makes her look away from him. A tearful Mrs. Hawthorne stares down at her.

“Thank you,” she whispers strongly. “For coming. Despite the curfew. Despite the blizzard.”

“Nothing could have stopped me from coming,” she replies honestly. Mrs. Hawthorne gives her a watery smile and strokes her cheek with a gentle hand, instantly warming the chilled flesh.

“The salve is ready,” Prim announces. “Either me or Mom will come down in a few hours to reapply it and change his bandages. Holler if anything happens.”

Madge nods her head. “I will.”

Prim and Mrs. Everdeen exit the same time Katniss and Peeta return. 

Peeta wraps the towel around her and playfully messes up her hair. Katniss sets her clothes on a nearby counter.

“Katniss, could you make some tea for Madge?” Mrs. Hawthorne asks. “Poor thing needs to warm up before she gets hypothermia.”

Katniss nods and moves to the stove.

“I’ll leave you ladies to it, then,” Peeta says. “Thank you for coming, Madge. You’re a hero.”

“Am not,” Madge immediately denies, but Peeta simply shakes his head and leaves the kitchen.

“Alright, let’s get you out of those clothes,” Mrs. Hawthorne says in a decidedly maternal voice.

“Here?” Madge squeaks, eyes immediately flying to Gale. 

Mrs. Hawthorne laughs. “I don’t think he has the energy to sneak a peek right now.”

And so Madge allows Mrs. Hawthorne to help her out of her damp clothing. She feels extremely embarrassed the entire time, especially when the older woman insists on towel drying her entire body for her. The entire situation would be a whole lot less awkward if Katniss wasn’t present. 

Then arises her second dilemma. The clothes she has to borrow are Katniss’. Since becoming an adolescent, Madge has gone through great pains to ensure all her clothes were ill-fitting. Even her fancy dresses were loose and more childish than mature. 

But Katniss was several sizes smaller than Madge, particularly in the bust and hip area. Mrs. Hawthorne has to first help her tug the tight shirt down over her breasts, and then hoist up the plain blue pants that clings inappropriately to her hips and thighs.

“Well,” Mrs. Hawthorne remarks once she’s finally dressed. “Gale is certainly lucky.”

“Here’s your tea,” Katniss says awkwardly. Madge wants to melt into the ground.

“We’ll leave you alone now,” Mrs. Hawthorne says. Before she leaves however, she leans down and whispers. “I wasn’t kidding about the kissing...it really does help.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Madge says in a strained voice. Mrs. Hawthorne kisses Gale’s temple one last time and wipes at her eyes before finally leaving.

It’s just the two of them now.

Madge reaches for Gale’s limp hand and holds it between her own. At the feel of his warm skin against hers, she finds herself crying all over again. 

She had been so close. So damn _ close _ to losing him, and never once feeling the warmth of him. 

Leaning down, she kisses all of his knuckles. They were rough and dry, nearly mutilated by hours of unjust labor that bore him practically no fruits.

Her tears come harder as she thinks of Gale’s life. She could only imagine the pain and panic he had felt upon learning of his Father’s death. From such a young age, he has had to be the man of his family. He had his youth torn away from him. He had his dignity and happiness torn away from him. And now they’ve torn the very skin off his back. 

Madge kisses the back of his hand. Then his palm. The inside of his wrist. His forearm. Finally

Madge leans forward and kisses his cheek. Once her lips land against the slight stubble, she can’t stop herself and she begins kisses as much of his face that she can reach her, tears stamped into his skin by her lips. His skin is warm against her chilled lips, and in that moment she truly feels as if she could spend the rest of her life kissing him.

“Thank you…”

Madge nearly falls off the stool as she shoots away from him. But because she’s still holding his hand, he tightens his grip and manages to balance her. 

“Gale!” Madge gasps, in an extremely awkward state where she was crying and blushing at the same time.

“Would you believe me if I said your kisses feel better than whatever Mrs. E gave me?” Gale slurs, his blown pupils staring up at her lazily.

Madge hastily wipes at her eyes with her free forearm. 

“Very funny,” she mutters, unable to look at him.

“I’m serious,” he stresses. Madge glances at him and finds that he’s still staring intently at her.

She doesn’t know what to say to that, so instead she just takes a sip of her tea.

“Are you in a lot of pain?” Madge asks once she’s swallowed. 

“It’s a lot better now that you’re here,” is his answer. Madge wonders why the morphling has suddenly turned him into a sweet-talker. 

“It’s the morphling that’s helping you, not me,” Madge tells him with a shake of her head. Gale suddenly tightens his grip on her hand.

“I know it’s you, because the second you stopped kissing me, the pain became worse,” he tells her.

Madge blinks rapidly. “Oh...should I...kiss you more?”

“Try it on my lips this time,” Gale suggests with a smirk. How he found it to be a playboy when just an hour ago he was at death’s door was beyond her...

Still, she slowly leans down and lets her eyes slip shut as she gently presses her lips against his.

This was perhaps one of the worst conditions to have her first kiss, but it was still a perfect kiss. It’s as if she melts into his mouth. Pretty soon she cups his cheek so that she can deepen the kiss, and by the time she pulls away, she’s breathless. 

“How was that?” she asks as she tries to stabilize her heartbeat.

“The best kiss of my life,” Gale answers. 

“Sure,” Madge scoffs incredulously. “I can only imagine how terrible all your other kisses must have been.”

“I’m serious,” he repeats. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Don’t say that,” Madge whispers, leaning down to give him one more peck.

“It’s true,” Gale insists softly against her lips. “I’ve treated you so badly, and yet you still came here and saved my life. I can never repay you.”

Madge pulls back just enough to look into his eyes

“There is no such thing as a debt owed to a person you love,” Madge whispers to him.

Gale’s eyes widen almost comically.

“Why would you love someone like me?” he asks, sounding half-awed, half-incredulous. 

“I see who you truly are as a person,” Madge answers with a soft smile. “Beneath that anger, that fire...I see your soul. You are a visionary. A revolutionary. You give me hope. For a long time, I even wondered if my feeling towards you was love or reverence.”

“What made you decide?” Gale asks hoarsely.

“There’s something in you I can’t be without,” Madge confesses quietly. “I...need it. It draws me in to you, since the moment I first saw you. Perhaps I do revere you, but I want to love you more.”

“Come here,” Gale whispers, his eyes drinking her in like they’re in the deserts of District 8. “And kiss me.”

Madge happily complies. The rest of the night follows in a similar fashion. Gale drifts in and out of sleep, and gets fed both chicken broth and kisses by her. She drifts off to sleep a few times, but forces herself to stay awake so she can keep an eye on Gale. 

Around 4 a.m, a groggy Prim comes downstairs to change his bandages. Even with Madge cradling his head against her chest and kissing his hair, the experience is heart-wrenchingly painful for Gale, who endures through it valiantly. 

But with dawn comes a new problem.

“You need to go up and rest,” Mrs. Everdeen instructs her as everyone soberly eats breakfast.

Madge shakes her head and swallows the bite of bread in her mouth. “I have to stay with Gale.”

“You’ll hurt your back if you stay on that stool any longer,” Prim points out. Madge shifts uncomfortably. The truth was her back _ did _ feel pretty strained, but it was laughable to complain when the condition of Gale’s back was _ that. _

“Is it possible to move Gale into the guest room?” Katniss asks her mother. Mrs. Everdeen frowns.

“His wounds would reopen if we did that,” Mrs. Everdeen replies.

“I may have an idea,” Peeta suggests with a smirk.

And that’s how they find themselves lifting Gale onto the mattress Peeta had slid into the kitchen. Mrs. Everdeen had administered another vial of morphling to make the transition as smooth as possible, but Gale still grunts as the five of them struggle to lift and place him.

“Goodness,” Mrs. Hawthorne huffs once he’s more or less settled. “This reminds me of how hard it was to push him out of me. His head was huge.”

Madge suddenly wonders if she ever has children with Gale if they’d also have large heads that would be difficult to push out. Would those heads be covered in black or blonde hair? Not that it mattered, because she would love them very much regardless.

“Are you alright, Madge?” Prim asks. “You look a little flushed.”

“I’m fine!” Madge quickly assures her, flustered that she was nearly caught in her embarrassing daydream. “Let’s get him in the guest room.”

With Gale’s added weight, it’s no longer possible to simply push the mattress, so once more it takes a combined effort to lift.

“Wha’ the fuck is goin’ on?” Gale groans. Madge can’t help but giggle along with Prim at the confusion in his voice.

“Language,” Mrs. Hawthorne hisses through her huffing. 

Finally, they reach the guest room and are able to return the mattress back into its frame. Only to run into their next problem.

“I just find it inappropriate for the two of them to share a bed,” Mrs. Everdeen sniffs. Madge can’t help but feel a twinge of annoyance at this. Couldn’t she have shared this opinion _ before _they had carried Gale over?

“My son was whipped nearly 70 times,” Mrs. Hawthorne reminds her icily. “I don’t think he can do much but lay there in pain.”

Mrs. Everdeen crosses her arms petulantly but stays silent.

“Mrs. Hawthorne, could you stay with Gale while I take a quick shower?” Madge interjects in an attempt to thaw the frostiness between the two mothers. Mrs. Hawthorne smiles and nods her head.

“I’ll get you more clothes,” Katniss says before practically bolting from the room.

It’s only under the hot water in the shower does Madge realize how _ tired _she is. By the time she’s dried herself up and squeezed into new clothes Katniss had brought her, Madge is having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

She opens the bathroom door and re-enters the guest room. Mrs. Hawthorne gets up from where she was sitting beside Gale and gives her a tired smile.

“I need to get back to my other children,” she says to her, her reluctance clear. “They must be so scared…”

“Mrs. Hawthorne, in the pocket of the coat I was wearing last night, you’ll find some money,” Madge tells her quickly. “Please take it and use it to get food for Rory, Vick, and Posy.”

Mrs. Hawthorne just stands there, stunned.

“I, I cannot accept that, Madge,” she protests weakly. 

“I insist,” Madge says strongly. “With Gale unable to work anytime soon, you’ll need it. Please take it.”

Mrs. Hawthorne strides over and sweeps her into a bone-crushing hug. 

“You are the greatest blessing my son has ever received in his life,” she whispers to her before kissing her on her cheek. 

“Now go on,” she pushes her gently towards the bed. “Get some much-needed sleep.”

“Take care, Mrs. Hawthorne,” Madge says through a yawn as she makes her way to her side of the bed. The bedroom door closes behind Mrs. Hawthorne, and the sound makes Madge pause and looks at Gale.

He’s asleep, features completely smoothed out. When he woke up, would he be uncomfortable to find her lying beside him? Surely this was a violation of his privacy…

“Are you going to just stand there?”

“You’re awake?” Madge squeals, taking several quick steps away from the bed.

“Yup,” he says, popping the ‘p’ sound. “I’ve been waiting for you to lie down.”

Her heart is rattling in her ribcage as she picks up the blanket and stiffly gets into the bed. She was being stupid, she knew she was. Just as Mrs. Hawthorne had said, they physically couldn’t do anything, and it was a rather big bed. Even with Gale sprawled out on it, there was still some distance between the two of them.

“Come closer,” Gale whines, and Madge looks at him and sees that he’s staring at her expectantly. Unable to refuse him, she inches closer to him until his fingers graze her arm.

“Closer,” Gale repeats in a breathy whisper. Madge slowly lifts his arm and moves over until she’s practically flushed to him. Gale lowers his arm across her ribs, effectively sealing her into him. 

She turns her head and finds her nose just inches away from his. His masculine scent sends her senses into a frenzy, and she wonders if he can feel how fast her heart is beating.

“Is this ok?” she whispers, unable to move her eyes away from his.

“No,” he says in a low voice. “But this is the most I can do at the moment.”

Heat bursts in her cheeks and she diverts her eyes from his only for them to land on his lips. 

“Feel free to kiss me whenever you want,” his lips say. Madge smiles shyly and leans down just a bit until her lips are connected to his again.

Kissing him while they both lie in the same bed takes on a different, more sensual vibration. It was almost...intimate. Surrounded by his masculine scent and permeating heat, she feels as there is a powerful magnet within him, and she is just a paperclip.

Unable to keep her hands to herself, she raises a hand and rests it on his neck, her fingers tracing his blood vessels as lovingly as she stroked her piano keys.

But when Gale moans into her mouth she tears away from him in panic.

“Are you alright?” she asks frantically, craning her neck to look at his back.

“I was a lot better a few seconds ago when you were kissing me,” Gale replies sullenly.

“Oh,” Madge squeaks. “I thought you were in pain…”

“Don’t worry so much,” Gale sighs. “I’ll get through this. I always do.”

Her lower lip quivers, a telltale sign she’s about to cry.

“I know,” Madge whispers tremulously. “I know you’re strong. I just wish...you didn’t have to be strong _ all _the time.”

“Please don’t cry, Madge,” Gale practically begs her. “I’ve already hurt you so much. I’m not worth your tears.”

Madge just shakes her head. “I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. To me, you’re worth the sun.”

Gale doesn’t say anything, and enough time passes that Madge has nearly fallen asleep.

“Do you think of me like that, because we’re...you know?” he asks suddenly, jolting her out her near asleep state.

It takes her groggy mind a moment to comprehend what he’s saying. When it clicks, she smiles sleepily.

“Not at all,” she says before yawning. “I fell in love with you when I was 13. I found out about this when I was 15.”

“Wait, wait,” Gale cuts in. “You’ve had..._ feelings _for me for four years?!”

“Mmhm,” Madge hums, too tired to feel embarrassed. 

“That’s how you knew my siblings names...” Gale murmurs to himself.

The last thing Madge remembers before she falls asleep is Gale’s fingers gently tracing her arm, almost reverently. 

* * *

In the next three days she only really leaves Gale’s side to go to the bathroom. Prim proclaims that he’s healing remarkably, but considering how serious his injuries were, he’s still completely bedridden.

When he’s awake, Madge does her best to entertain him by reading to him aloud. He seems to enjoy this enough, but after every few pages or so demands a kiss from her. She doesn’t even pretend to be annoyed by this.

He also seems to really like being fed by her. She isn’t sure if Prim or Mrs. Everdeen aren’t gentle enough when they feed him, but he always insists onher to be the one to do the task. Madge doesn’t mind, in fact she finds him utterly adorable whenever she’s feeding him, but she does wonder why he always prefers her.

When they’re not reading or eating, they’re just speaking. About Madge’s childhood. About his. Gale tells her his jokes and Madge tell him her random trivia. She learns more about him in those few days than she has in all the years she essentially stalked him. 

It would have been the happiest time of her life, if Gale wasn’t in pain for most of it.

* * *

“They’ve set the hob on fire,” Mr. Abernathy tells her as she pours herself a cup of tea. It’s late at night, and she had been certain she would be the only one up when she had walked into the kitchen.

She looks up to the older man in horror.

“Was anyone hurt?” Madge asks worriedly. When Mr. Abernathy nods, she looks down at the counter in anguish. 

“Katniss has lit a spark in the country,” Mr. Abernathy explains tiredly. “They won’t stop until they’ve completely smothered it.”

“People are going to die,” Madge says in a hollow voice.

“People have been dying,” Mr. Abernathy counters. “Write it down, this situation will only worsen from here.”

“How can you just accept this?” Madge cries, whirling around to face him. “Have you no heart?”

“My heart shriveled up years ago,” Mr. Abernathy tells her in a low voice. “But now I can try and protect those I care about properly.”

Getting up from his spot at the kitchen table, he walks up to her and places his large hands on her shoulders. Madge looks up at him expectantly. 

“Just because he is your soulmate, does not mean he’s going to save you, Madge,” Mr. Abernathy whispers desperately to her. “Promise me, pearl, that you’ll always look out for yourself.”

“Gale wouldn’t let me just die,” Madge denies, her chest beginning to hurt from this conversation.

“Maybe not purposefully,” Mr. Abernathy admits. “But with every soulmate I know, when one has needed the other the most...it was too late.”

Against her will, her mind recalls her Aunt bleeding to death atop of that beautiful grassy hill. 

“I’m not Maysilee,” Madge whispers harshly. “And Gale isn’t you.”

Mr. Abernathy sighs and steps away from her in defeat.

“They are going to beat 12 down to its bones,” Mr. Abernathy tells her with a note of finality. “All I ask- _ beg _, is that you look after yourself.”

Madge doesn’t answer him, and leaves the kitchen to return to Gale, her tea long forgotten. When she slips back into bed, Gale makes a small noise in the back of his throat.

“Is everything alright?” he asks her sleepily. Madge turns on her side to stare at his silhouette. 

“Everything is fine,” she lies, kissing his closed eyelids.

* * *

She’s sitting on the edge of the bed, combing through her hair after her nightly shower. Though she isn’t looking at him, she can feel Gale’s eyes studying her, as they usually did whenever he was awake. 

She sets the comb down on the nightstand beside her and gets up to turn off the light. 

“You know, Katniss’ clothes look a lot better on you than her.”

Madge whirls around to glare at him, but his eyes are slow to meet hers as they crawl up her body.

“That is completely inappropriate,” Madge huffs, flipping the light switch off and plunging them into darkness.

“But true,” Gale snickers. 

“You have officially lost all your rights to cuddling,” Madge tells him crossly as she gets into bed.

“Aw, don’t be like that,” Gale complains. “It’s not my fault you’re gorgeous, now is it?”

“Hardly,” Madge mutters, pulling the blanket up to her chin and turning on her side so that her back is facing him.

“But you are,” Gale insists stubbornly. “Prettiest girl in the district.”

“Spare me,” Madge sighs. “I’m not blind. That girl is Katniss.”

“Katniss is pretty, no doubt,” Gale agrees. Madge’s chest clenches painfully at his admission but nods. He wasn’t wrong, after all. “But that’s not what you think when you look at her. I’d say she’s more bewitching.”

“But you, man, you’re the whole package, aren’t you?” Gale continues. “Classically beautiful, insanely smart, and super-rich on top of that all. No wonder every guy is afraid of you.”

Madge considers his words. If what he was saying was true, then…

“Every guy, except you.”

Gale doesn’t respond, and Madge knows she’s got him. She has no reason to be upset over the fact that Gale finds her unattractive, not when she’s known that all along, but it stings regardless.

The mattress suddenly dips and Madge looks over her shoulder in shock.

“What are you doing!” she exclaims as she watches Gale’s features twist-up miserably as he tries to move. 

“Moving. Closer,” he grunts through clenched teeth.

“Stop!” Madge cries, nearly leaping to him. “You’ll reopen your wounds!”

Gale is sweating from his exertion, but he still lifts up his arm to wrap around her, tugging her closer.

“I was scared of you,” he confesses into the skin of her neck as he breathes deeply. “But there was something in you that drew me in, that I could not be without.”

Madge lies completely frozen as she takes in his words.

“Only now do I realize what lured me to you, that did not allow me to be silent whenever I saw you,” Gale adds.

“And what was that?” Madge breathes.

“Your soul.”

* * *

“I forbid it.”

“She’s right, you’ll only hurt yourself.”

“Stop being stubborn, Gale.”

Madge watches in silence as all three Everdeen girls respond to Gale’s request to get up and walk around.

“I am not spending another second on my stomach,” Gale growls. “Besides, I’ll have Madge help me. The pain is never too bad when I’m touching her.”

“That’s right,” Madge quickly comes to his defense, because if there was anyone that knew how stir-crazy he was becoming, it was her. “If it’s too much, I’ll make him lay back down.”

“If you feel even a single wound reopen,” Mrs. Everdeen tells him gravely. “You _ must _tell us immediately. Do you understand?”

“I do,” Gale responds evenly. 

It takes a joint effort, but the Everdeen family helps Gale hoist himself up and onto Madge’s back. His arms come to wrap around her side and his chin rests atop her head, his body sagging onto hers.

“Are you alright?” Katniss asks nervously. 

“Fine,” Gale grunts. “Madge, are you ok?”

“Yes,” Madge answers. “Do you want to walk?”

_ “Please.” _

Slowly, she and Gale make a lap around the first floor of the large house. When she feels him growing tired, she takes him to the living room and helps him sit on the softest sofa.

“You’re doing great,” Madge tells him with a proud smile. He smiles back at her.

“It’s like you were made to fit into me,” Gale chuckles. Madge’s cheeks erupt into flames and she hastily looks away. Gale simply laughs at her.

“I’m dying to eat something solid,” he says once he’s finished teasing her. “I will flip my shit if I have to take another teaspoon of soup.”

“I could fry you some chicken steak,” Madge offers. “It’s one of my Father’s favorite dishes.”

“Princess, I could kiss your feet right now,” he says eagerly. 

“No need,” Madge laughs. “Wait here, I’ll make them as quick as I can.”

“No,” Gale shakes his head. “Take me with you.”

“But I-”

“Please, Madge?” Gale pouts. “I don’t want to be here all alone.”

That’s how Madge finds herself at the stove, rolling the chicken breasts in her homemade batter and dropping it into the sizzling oil, all while Gale hugs her from behind. 

She likes to listen to music whenever she cooked and had put on a vinyl record that drifted in from the living room. Gale slowly sways their bodies to the tune as Madge hummed along.

“Now they need to brown,” she explains, splashing the frying food with some oil with her spatula. “I think I’ll make some coleslaw to go along with it, as well as some sweet tea.”

Gale’s arms tighten their embrace.

“As sweet as you?” he asks mischievously. Madge rolls her eyes even though he can’t see her face. Without warning, she feels Gale pressing an open-mouthed kiss to the side of her neck.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Madge stutters, nearly dropping her spatula into the pan of boiling oil.

“Returning all those wonderful kisses you gave me,” he murmurs into her skin before moving his lips to her pulse point. Madge shudders as she feels him suckle gently, and is about to turn herself around so he can do that to her tongue instead when a very disgruntled throat-clearing is heard.

“Now isn’t this a cozy scene,” Mr. Abernathy comments sarcastically. 

“What do you want, you filthy drunk,” Gale snaps, obviously upset at being interrupted.

“To save Madge from _ your _filthy clutches,” Mr. Abernathy shoots back. Turning to her, his eyes move to the spot on her neck Gale had been enjoying moments ago and his expression tightens.

“They’ve finally cleared the snow,” he tells her, trying and failing in concealing his disgust. “School will reopen tomorrow.”

Madge’s heart drops to her feet. She’ll have to leave Gale tomorrow. 

“The food is burning,” Gale points out tonelessly.

“Mr. Abernathy can you help Gale to the table,” Madge says as she internally groans. She’s able to salvage the food just in time, but the three of them eat the meal in silence.

Eventually, Mr. Abernathy gets up to go talk to Katniss about something.

“I promise to visit you every day,” Madge promises as soon as he’s gone. 

“Yeah,” Gale says quietly he dangles his fork from his fingers listlessly. “I’ll just...miss you.”

She’s both heartbroken and overjoyed at his words.

* * *

Returning home after being gone for over a week feels as if she’s walking back into an old memory.

That memory quickly turns into a nightmare as soon as she steps inside and hears her Mother wailing. 

Flying up the stairs, Madge bursts into her parent’s room and finds her aggrieved Father holding his tremoring wife.

He tries to give her a smile, but his attention is taken away completely by the sheer pain his wife is in.

“I’m sorry,” Madge croaks, nearly falling to her knees as shame overcomes her. “She’s suffering. Because of me.”

“I suffer,” Mother whispers, eyes shut tightly as she battles a war in her mind. “Because I cannot let go.

“Don’t say that Madeline,” Father says to her soothingly. “This isn’t at all your fault.”

“But it’s true,” Mother smiles softly as tears slip past her closed eyelids. “The only reason I’m alive is because of you, David.”

Father hides his face in her hair, and Madge realizes two things. That her parents _ were _ soulmates, and that your soulmate cannot heal a wound you do not wish to let go of.

“I still ask for your forgiveness Mother,” Madge begs quietly as she goes over to kneel beside her. “I took away your medicine…”

“You are so alike to Maysilee, sometimes I wonder if I gave birth to my sister’s second coming,” Mother wheezes. “But then...there is something in you that I did not see in her. Maysilee yearned for greatness. You, my sweet daughter, only yearn for peace.”

“You must understand,” she continues weakly, a frail hand coming up to rest against Madge’s cheek. She doesn’t even realize she’s crying until Mother wipes away her tears. “Becoming your Mother...is the greatest thing to have ever happened to me.”

“All of my hope lives inside you, my glowing pearl,” she cries softly. “How could I not give my medicine to your love? You need him to be happy.”

“I know neither of us have been good parents to you,” Father adds shamefully. “But believe me Madge, your happiness is all the two of us wish for.”

“You are the best parents I could ask for,” Madge sobs as she reaches for both of them, meaning every word she speaks. “I love you both so much.”

“I love you more,” Mother whispers into her shoulder.

* * *

Madge makes good on her promise of visiting Gale everyday after school. 

She’s on her way to him just two days after going back to her own home. Typically she hurries to him as fast as she can, stopping for nothing, but today as she passes the Justice Building, she finds herself suddenly stopping.

That was the lanky body of none other than Rory Hawthorne ascending the steep steps of the building, she was sure of it. 

Rushing towards him, she calls out without thinking.

“Rory!”

Whirling around, his face is set in hostile suspicion.

Taking the steps two at a time, she’s slightly panting by the time she reaches him. In his threadbare coat and angry face, he looks so much like a younger Gale, that her heart can’t help but lurch at the sight of him.

“What do you want?” he asks tersely, shoving his hands into the pockets of his too-short pants.

“I’m Madge Undersee,” she introduces herself in a rush. “I’m…”

Rory’s eyebrows rise slightly. “I know who you are.”

The look on his face tells her that he’s not referring to her relation to the Mayor. 

“Right,” she says awkwardly. “Soo...what are you doing at the Justice Building today?”

“Tesserae,” Rory answers flatly.

“You can’t,” Madge counters immediately. “Gale wouldn’t want you to!”

A flash of pain crosses his light eyes before his features contort angrily.

“My _ other _ brother is starving, and my _ sister _is sick with the measles,” Rory spits furiously. “And while I appreciate you saving my older brother’s life, I still have to keep the other two alive.”

“Posy has the measles?” Madge asks in a terrified whisper. Rory seems thrown off by her question but nods.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to-”

Madge cuts him off by clasping his shoulder reassuringly.

“You don’t need tesserae,” she tells him confidently. “You have me.”

* * *

“So,” Rory speaks over the large bags of groceries he’s carrying. “Uh, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Madge responds as she shifts the heavy bags in her arms. 

“I mean it,” Rory continues. “I mean, those were a _ lot _of dresses you sold.”

She simply shrugs. “I’m not the dress-up kind anyways.”

“And that pin you sold?” Rory presses on. “You’re also going to pretend it was no big deal to you?”

Madge takes a deep breath as she recalls her Mother’s pin. She would be lying if she said it was easy to sell, but when the moment came, Madge didn’t hesitate.

“Posy’s health is a bigger deal to me,” Madge replies evenly.

Rory doesn’t say anything to that, for which Madge is glad. 

The rest of the walk is spent is silence, and they’ve nearly reached the Hawthorne house when things go wrong.

“Stop right there.”

Both Madge and Rory freeze at the voice. It belonged to the man both of them despised more than anyone alive.

On shaking legs, Madge turns around to face head peacekeeper Thread.

“I do recall the Mayor’s house to be in the opposite direction,” he practically barks as he takes in the many bags of groceries. Besides her, she can feel the fear rolling off Rory like waves. 

Squaring her shoulders, Madge takes a step forward so that she can shield Rory from that devil’s sight.

“It is,” Madge affirms in a clear voice. “I’m simply running an errand for my friend, Katniss Everdeen.”

Thread’s ice blue eyes cut into hers like an icicle, and Madge can fully admit she’s just as, if not more scared than Rory. All she can think of as she looks at him is Gale’s exposed shoulder bone.

“The curfew remains in effect,” is finally all he says, features frozen frigid anger. “Do not think it won’t apply to you, Miss. Undersee.”

Madge tries to swallow, but her mouth is too dry. 

“I understand.”

Thread walks away from and towards the elderly woman struggling to push her cart along the half-frozen road.

Madge nudges Rory and the both of them walk away from that bastard as quickly as they can.

“I can’t believe you stood up to him like that,” Rory tells her, face still pale.

“Me neither,” Madge admits, legs still wobbly.

“Next time, I’ll protect you,” Rory promises. Madge glances at him from the corner of her eye and smiles. He really was Gale’s brother.

They finally reach the tiny Hawthorne home, and after some struggling and help from Madge, Rory manages to get the front door open. 

“Rory?” Madge hears a young boy call out. 

“Who else dingus,” Rory calls back. Immediately, the sound of running feet is heard, and then Vick Hawthorne appears.

His inquisitive eyes snap to Madge and morph totally into a look of shock.

“This is Madge,” Rory tells him as he continues to gawk at her. “You know, the chick that got stuck with Gale.”

“Hello,” Madge says in a friendly voice, despite the...weirdness of the situation.

“H-hi…” Vick stutters, face bright red as he continues ogling her. “I’m- I’m,”

_ “I’m, I’m,” _ Rory mocks with an eye roll. “Help me put the groceries away, moron.”

Vick finally looks away from her to glare at Rory.

“I am not a moron, you’re a moron!”

“No, you.”

“_ No, _you!

“Um, guys,” Madge desperately cuts in. “Where is Posy?”

“Posy has measles,” Vick informs her. “Rory had it when he was little but I didn’t so only Rory and Ma can see her.”

“I had measles as a kid too,” she tells him with a slightly amused smile. “So I was hoping you could see her.”

“Sure,” Vick says, taking on the role of being her tour guide. “Just follow me. This is our living room, next to that is mine, Rory, and Gale’s room. That’s Posy and Ma’s room.”

She can’t help but reach out and ruffle his hair affectionately. While Rory was burdened by the same anger as his older brother, Vick had not yet reached that stage yet, still retaining his childish optimism. 

His face goes red as she leans down so that they’re eye to eye.

“Can you go help your brother put away the groceries?” she asks him. “I’ll come out and help make lunch as soon as I give Posy her medicine.”

“You bought Posy medicine?” Vick asks with wide eyes. “But...why?”

“Because I’d like to be the three of you’s friend,” Madge replies with a light laugh. “Sound good?”

“I have to ask my Ma first,” Vick says shyly before rushing down the hallway back to Rory.

Straightening up, her mood sombers as she turns the knob of Posy’s room. The curtains aren’t drawn, leaving the room dark. Most of the room is taken up by a large bed, in which a little girl lies in the middle

Her assumption that she’s sleeping is proven wrong when she sits up halfway and squints at Madge.

“Are you a fairy?” she asks in a scratchy voice.

Madge considers this question for a moment. 

“Yes,” she finally answers as she walks closer to Posy. “I’ve been sent by the fairy queen on a very special mission.”

Up close, she can better make out Posy’s features, and she really is a beautiful child.

“Really?” she breathes excitedly despite her evident sickness. “What is it?!”

“To heal you!” 

* * *

Madge keeps her word and visits every day. Slowly, Gale gets stronger and stronger, and by the end of his second week at the Everdeen’s he’s cleared to go home.

Hazelle had to go home early to start dinner, and so Madge is tasked with walking Gale home. Not that she wouldn’t have done so anyway.

Still, she’s anxious the entire time as they slowly trudge towards the Seam. The last thing she wants is for Gale to encounter Thread, but for the most part, they’re left alone, despite some peacekeepers lingering their gazes on her.

She could melt in relief when they finally reach house 514, and Madge helps Gale up the porch stairs and knocks on the door.

A bored-looking Rory opens the door. His eyes immediately fly to his brother, whom he hasn’t seen in nearly 3 weeks. The sequence of emotions, from shock, relief, happiness to fake indifference is clear to see in his eyes.

“This is bullshit!” Rory suddenly exclaims. “Gale looks like the gunk in Vick’s toenails, and he ends up with a soulmate that looks like _ you?!” _

Something is thrown at Rory’s head. With a curse, he falls to his knees, clutching the base of his skull. A very angry Vick appears behind him.

“I _ don’t _have any gunk in my toenails, you stinky butthole!” Vick yells angrily. Realizing that Madge is still at the door, he looks up at her and suddenly grows shy. “Oh...hi.”

“Can you morons let Madge in?” Gale aggravatedly asks, shoving away Vick and nudging Rory’s writhing form away with his foot.

“Is he alright?” Madge asks worriedly as she walks around Rory’s fallen form.

“He’s just doing it for the attention,” Gale tells her with the role of his eyes.

“Gale, you stupid slut,” Rory hisses from the floor.

“What is a slut?” the most delightful little girl asks innocently. Posy steps into the living room and her large eyes widen when she sees Gale.

"Gale!" Posy cries, launching herself at her brother and into his waiting arms. Gale holds Posy close to him and kisses her hair, rocking side to side despite the pain that must be causing his back. When he notices Vick staring at him longingly, he outstretches an arm that Vick immediately ducks under.

Her heart glows with warmth as she witnesses the tender moment between the three siblings. Even Rory, from his petulant spot on the floor watches on with a smile.

"Sissy, this is Gale," Posy introduces her. "He is the best big brother in the world."

"Hey, what about me?" Rory calls out in fake hurt.

"You're a stinky butthole," Posy giggles wildly alongside Vick.

"Rory, Vick, if you teach Posy anymore foul language I will put your beds in the shed," Hazelle threatens as she steps out of the kitchen. To Madge, she greets her with a smile and a welcoming hug. "How are you, honey?"

“Wait,” Gale suddenly cuts in, confused. “Madge, when did you meet my siblings?”

Before she can answer, Posy pipes up.

“It was when I was sick with measels! I was really itchy and hurting, but Madge made me feel aaallll better,” Posy explains, resting her head on Madge’s collar bone. “She also made me really yummy food and played with me and told me stories about princesses. I asked her if she could be my sissy and she said yes. Also, she is a fairy.”

As she watches for Gale’s reaction, she hears Vick whisper to Rory, “Is that true?”

Gale stares back at her with an unreadable expression. Wordlessly, sets down Posy and Vick and walks over to the couch, sinking down onto it. 

Madge walks to Posy and with a kiss to her cheek she gently nudges her towards the kitchen where her Mother has returned to. 

Tentatively, she makes her way towards Gale and takes a seat by him.

“Are you upset?” Madge asks quietly.

Gale just sighs.

“Not with you,” he finally says. “How can I be? You’ve now saved not just mine, but my entire family’s life.”

“I wouldn't go that far,” Madge counters humbly. “But then...why _ are _you upset?

“Because I’m the one that’s supposed to take care of them,” Gale replies in a thick voice, looking down at his hands in defeat. “And I failed them.”

Madge reaches over and clasps his face in her hands, forcing his sad eyes to stare into hers.

“First of all, you did not fail anyone. Justice failed you,” she tells him in no uncertain terms. “Secondly, anyone loved by you is loved by me, so you should not feel bad that I temporarily filled in for you.”

“You went above and beyond filling in,” Gale argues. “You spoiled them.”

Madge shakes her head. “I believe that you should spoil your loved ones whenever you can.”

Gale’s eyes finally lose their sadness and a smirk beginning to grow on his handsome face.

“Well, I guess I wouldn’t mind being spoiled by you,” he says in a suggestive voice, reaching out to trace her lower lip with his thumb. 

“How do you want to be spoiled?” Madge asks, only half-aware his family was right next to them.

“Hmm,” Gale leans closer to her as his eyes narrow in mischief. “When my back heals, we can- _ dammit Rory!” _

“Oops,” Rory says sounding not at all apologetic as Gale shakes his head, trying to get off the water Rory had spilled onto him. “Too bad it wasn’t holy water, you hormonal degenerate.”

“We’ll see who’s the degenerate when I tell Prim what you do with that lotion she made for you,” Gale threatens darkly.

Rory immediately pales and shoots Madge a large, panicked grin.

“Your tea should be done now, let me go check on it!” he practically squeaks as he runs into the kitchen.

“Idiot,” Gale mutters, wringing out his shirt.

Posy gets up from the table she had been hiding under and scampers over to her. Throwing herself onto her lap, Madge catches the tiny girl in surprise.

“I miss you when you’re gone,” Posy tells her as she hugs her tightly

“I do too,” Madge whispers, lip quivering. 

“Let her breathe, Pose,” Gale chides gently, but Madge immediately tightens her grip on the younger girl.

“I can breathe just fine,” she tells him. “Right, Posy?”

“Right!” she chirps happily.

Dinner with the Hawthorne’s is both pleasant and entertaining. By the time she has to get up and leave, and she feels so at ease with the entirety of Gale’s family, she truly wishes she could stay longer and just bask in their warmth.

“It was very nice having dinner with you all,” Madge says to them all as she shrugs on her coat. “I hope you won’t mind me coming again tomorrow.”

“You can sleepover!” Posy suggests excitedly.

“We’d have to chain Gale down,” Rory scoffs with an eye roll. Both Mrs. Hawthorne and Gale shot a vicious glare at him.

“Maybe next time,” Madge promises Posy. “Do you think I could get another hug before that though?”

Posy nods and hugs her tightly while giggling. Madge kisses the top of her head before letting go.

“Come on,” Gale says with a small smile on his face. “I’ll walk you home.”

“Oh! You don’t have to do that,” Madge quickly tells him, her mind immediately going to Thread. “Stay home and rest.”

“I’m fine,” he assures her, herding her out the door. 

“Bye, Madge!” Vick hollers after her as Mrs. Hawthorne shuts the door with a wave.

“They’re a handful, I know,” Gale chuckles once they’re out on the street. 

“I think they’re lovely,” Madge replies honestly as they walk together slowly, her eyes darting around for peacekeepers.

When he doesn’t respond, she looks over and finds him gazing adoringly at her with a warm smile on his handsome face.

Madge looks away shyly and realizes they’re at the same spot where he pushed her nearly two years ago. How different things are now.

Gale seems to realize the significance of this location as well.

“Hell’s teeth,” he sighs as he runs a frustrated hand through his thick hair. “I was a complete asshole to you.”

“Yeah,” Madge agrees plainly, feeling rather satisfied at his wince. “You were.”

“But,” Madge continues with a smile. “I forgive you. Besides, I never made any effort towards disproving the assumptions you had about me.”

“Believe me, you’ve more than cleared things up,” he says seriously. “But I really am sorry. I swear I’d never treat you like that again.”

Her heart flutters warmly at his words, despite the cold of the evening. 

But this is of course 12, and the honey of the moment quickly turns to vinegar.

“No soliciting!” a peacekeeper barks at them. “Curfew starts in 2 hours, so get a move on before I beat the shit out of you two.”

“We were just going,” Madge replies frantically, legs shaking as she grabs Gale’s hand and tugs him forward in keen fear.

She maintains a tight grip on his hand as she leads them to her house, heart hammering unsteadily in her chest. The thought of Gale getting into an altercation with a peacekeeper is enough to bring tears to her eyes, and she genuinely has to fight the incoming panic attack that threatens to break out any moment.

“Madge,” Gale sighs. “Slow down. My back is still healing.”

She immediately comes to a complete halt.

“I’m so sorry!” she cries in apology. “I wasn’t thinking, oh God, are you alright?”

Gale smiles at her but his eyes are clouded with melancholy.

“How can I be alright when things are like this?” he says quietly. “I feel so helpless that I can’t eat, I can’t sleep...hell, I can’t even think straight without remembering that pain.”

A shudder ripples through him before he closes his eyes tiredly. Romulus Thread had broken Gale’s spirit.

The panic subsides and is taken over by a moment of sharp clarity as she takes in Gale’s desolation.

Madge takes a vow of vengeance then and there. If the day ever came that she could successfully take Thread’s life, she would, without hesitation.

“Things are never hopeless,” Madge whispers, coming forward to hold both his hands and rest her cheek against his chest. “After all, there are so many people in this world, and yet we were able to find our soulmate...who is to say wonders more beautiful than our sweetest dreams cannot exist?”

Gale’s arms come up around her to pull him flush against her. 

“I think you are a witch,” he says in a low voice. “Because you have the magic ability of always finding the words that make me feel better.”

Recalling one of their past conversations, she looks up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you find me bewitching, Gale?” she asks, trying not to sound smug.

“Actually, I think you are a siren,” he answers seriously. “I’ve been caught in your clutches since I first heard you play the piano when I was 15.”

Madge blinks at him stupidly as her mind tries to process what he has just revealed. She hadn’t even _ known _that Gale had ever heard her play the piano. 

“Come on, princess,” Gale brings up one arm to wrap around her shoulders. “We need to get you home.”

She leans into his touch, feeling so secure that if Thread himself showed up, she’d just shrug him off.

When they finally reach the mayor’s mansion, she climbs up half of the porch steps before turning around to face him. He’s still taller than her, but she’s much closer to his face now, and Madge has to remind herself now isn’t the time to allow herself to be stolen away by his eyes.

Gale doesn’t really help this issue by practically smoldering her with his gaze.

“I’m glad you’re my soulmate,” he says, causing Madge to immediately tenses as she recalls the last time he said that to her.

“You’re the kindest, sweetest, prettiest, smartest girl I’ve ever met,” Gale finishes, reaching out and grasping her waist. 

Her hands instinctively go to his shoulders, to steady herself or simply because she wants to be closer to him, she has no idea.

“Sounds like you have know very few girls,” Madge quips breathlessly.

“Nah,” Gale breathes back. “I’ve known quite a few, and my opinion still stands.”

Madge smiles and looks down at the tiny distance between their bodies. She wonders if the day would ever come where there would be no more distance between them, neither physically nor emotionally.

Gale suddenly releases his grip on her and steps away with a somber expression.

“But Madge, I don’t have to explain to you how hard things are going to be for my family and I,” he continues joylessly. “With the hob gone and fence on all the time...I’m sorry, but I’m in no place to start a relationship with anyone.”

His words hardly sting her because honestly, she feels the same.

“Me too,” Madge admits, not wanting to get into how sick her Mother was. “But I can still be here for you as a friend and confidant.”

Gale surprises her by laughing.

“If I ever call you a friend, I’m lying through my teeth,” Gale tells her amusedly. “I can never think of you as just a friend. There has always been something unspeakable between us, and it’s only become stronger now.”

She considers what he’s said before responding.

“Then, I’ll be here for you as your soulmate. Whatever you need from me, I will do my best to give to you.”

* * *

He watches her plump, pink lips form the words before his eyes are drawn back to her doe eyes. Her high cheekbones are illuminated by the porchlight that her thick blonde hair glows under. Her slender neck stretches as she tips her head slightly, and Gale’s body remembers how the tender flesh felt beneath his lips.

“Then, I’ll be here for you as your soulmate. Whatever you need from me, I will do my best to give to you.”

What did he need from Madge? An immediate answer would be her company. A more prolonged one would be her love. 

The real answer is both simpler and more complicated.

_ I think all I need is _you.

* * *

Gale is back down in the mines just a week later. At school, she can’t concentrate on anything but the fact that he was nearly whipped to death 3 weeks ago, and now he’s mining for 12 hours again.

As she recalls their time together in the Everdeen household as the snow fell around them, Madge can’t help but compare those moments to that spent in a dream.

_ Now we’re both awake and back to facing our grim reality _, Madge thinks to herself as she jumps out of bed at the sound of her Mother shrieking in pain.

* * *

It’s just another day spent at Hawthorne home. She’s helping Vick with his homework while also trying to play dolls with Posy. Rory lazily watches the T.V.

The front door opens and in comes a filthy Gale.

“Gale!” Posy squeals, running up to her older brother.

“No hug, Pose,” he says as he stops her from latching on to him. “I need to clean up first.”

The T.V screen suddenly becomes static, and when the connection is reestablished, Snow is on the screen.

The world around Madge grows muted as she takes in the President’s words. In the end, only these few words sink in completely:

_ Quarter Quell. Past victors only. _

* * *

Madge gives Katniss time and space to grieve, but after a few days, she finally approaches her best friend.

She’s sitting at her dining table, expression blank as a full mug of tea sat in front of her.

Madge takes a seat beside her, and for a moment just lets the silence between them take on the same tone it had back when they were just two schoolgirls, lost and alone in the world.

“I will be there with you till the very last step,” Madge finally says. 

Katniss finally looks over at her slowly. Her face is still expressionless, but her eyes train on Madge’s face intently.

“Do you know why?” Madge asks softly. Reaching over, she lays her hands over her friend’s darker, rougher ones. “Because I believe in you.”

A tear leaks out of Katniss’ eye and falls on Madge’s hand. Such a heavy price her friend had to pay, simply for having a good heart.

Not for the first time, Madge is disgusted by the world they have been born into.

* * *

Little by little, the winter begins to thaw and Katniss, Mr. Abernathy, and Peeta launch themselves into full-scale training. 

Gale teaches the two men his snaring techniques and other life-saving tips while Katniss works on her target practice tirelessly. Madge doesn’t have any skills that she can teach them that will help them in the arena, but she tries to help in her own way.

She’s in the parlor of Katniss’ house reading one of her Father’s newspapers when Gale comes in. 

“How’s training going?” she asks as he takes a seat next to her on the plush loveseat. 

“Fine,” he answers, resting his head back and closing his eyes tiredly. “They’re jogging right now.”

Madge nods and continues reading silently, not wanting to disturb him.

“Something interesting in that?” he asks anyway, leaning over slightly so he can look at the paper too.

Madge shakes her head. “I’m trying to analyze these stocks.”

Gale frowns. “Stocks? What are those?”

“In Panem, our resources are privately owned,” Madge explains. “So although the coal is from 12 and mined by 12’s residents, a private company in the Capital owns the mine itself. That private company, as you know, is called Capital Coal. Capital Coal sells shares to investors, and then both Capital Coal and it’s investors make money off those shares, _ if _Capital Coal makes a profit from its revenues.”

“And what is a share?” Gale asks, looking more and more confused.

“A single share of the stock represents fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the total number of shares,” Madge explains patiently. “Each share is worth a certain amount based on what the company is worth. 

“Companies sell shares to investors to earn cash that will then, in turn, be used to create more capital. Essentially, you can tell how companies are doing based off their stocks, and because all 12 districts are entirely privatized in their main sectors, you can see how the individual economy of the district is fairing.”

“So these are the numbers of Capital Coal,” Gale reads. “From what I can see...they’re going up?”

Madge nods. “Correct. You can see the slight dip in numbers back when we had the blizzard as production was ceased momentarily, however, they made up for that by giving the miners more time.”

“Goddamn,” Gale mutters under his breath. “I’m breaking my back every day to be a fucking decimal point.”

“You are,” Madge agrees sadly. “But these decimal points can tell us what is happening in other districts. Take 11 for example. As you can see Capital Grains is suffering, yet when you read the paper, there are countless pictures of 11’s boundless fields. What does this tell us?”

Gale thinks hard for a moment, and then it clicks.

“11 is rebelling, aren’t they?” he asks in a hushed voice. When Madge nods once more, his eyes widen.

“Holy shit,” he whispers. “Is it happening in other districts, too?”

“As far as I can tell, only 8 is seeing major depressions in their market trends,” Madge says. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if more and more districts begin to rebel, if they’re going through anything like 12 is.”

“You are the most amazing person I have ever met,” Gale tells her suddenly. Madge smiles and looks down at the paper in her lap shyly. Ever since he’s had to go back to work, they really haven’t had any alone time together, and it’s been even longer since they’ve kissed. She knows she’s not his girlfriend, but she’s really missed moments like this.

“I just read a lot,” she says modestly.

“And that’s amazing too,” Gale says, taking her hand in his and rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand. “The more time I spend with you, the more I wonder if you have a single fault.”

Madge snorts. “I have only a million and one.”

“I don’t see any,” he says before pulling her in for a kiss.

Madge’s arms slowly wrap around his neck and he tips her backward as he crawls above her. Her eyes roll up towards her skull as his tongue sneaks past her lips to slide against her own. As Gale deepens the kiss by flattening her into the loveseat, a fire is born deep below her navel.

And for once, she’s not afraid of the flames.

* * *

Katniss and Peeta and Mr. Abernathy train, Gale risks his life every day a mile down in the Earth, Madge studies both her books and newspapers while trying to take care of her increasingly fragile Mother, and 12 is continued to be squeezed in from all sides.

As she watches the children on the streets grow thinner and thinner as their parents eyes became more and more desperate, she wonders if Snow knows that if you put too much pressure on rotting flesh, it will turn into coal. And once the matter has become coal, all it takes is a spark for it to be set on fire.

  


* * *

The more Gale works in the mines, the more she feels him slip away from her. She can’t blame him, only the Capital. Still, every time she sees him, she mourns another part of him that has been corroded away.

Things aren’t easy for Madge either. Not when she has to watch her Father work himself to death in a desperate attempt to make sure half the district doesn’t starve to death and her Mother practically decomposing in her bed.

She also has to constantly live with the fact that come the Quarter Quell, she may lose both Katniss and Mr. Abernathy forever.

The Hawthorne kids help her spirits, but it’s becoming harder to keep her head up. 

Maybe this _ is _what Snow wanted all along.

* * *

Her snapping point with Gale is both expected and not. It’s expected because both of them have become so fraught from the mounting tensions in their lives, but it’s also unexpected because Madge loves Gale and she never wants to believe things are bad between them.

Almost all of the Undersee monthly stipend has been diverted towards more medication for Mother, leaving Madge with very little to buy groceries not only for her family, but for the Hawthorne’s as well.

On top of that, Mother has not been reacting well with her new medication, meaning Madge has to spend more time looking after her than ever. That’s why when she goes over to drop off just a few measly cans of beans, she has to leave immediately.

She’s crossing through their barren yard on her way home when Gale storms out of the house.

“What is this?” he demands, holding up one of the cans.

“Beans,” Madge answers with a frown, wondering why he’s so upset.

“Even a lowly coal miner such as myself can afford this. You can take your fucking _ beans _with you,” Gale seethes. “We don’t accept charity in this house.”

Her jaw falls open at his words. 

“Charity?” Madge repeats incredulously. “After all this time, that’s what you seriously call this?”

“What else would you call dropping off shitty food and immediately running away?” Gale demands angrily. 

Madge opens her mouth to explain that her family is eating the same “shitty food” and the only reason she has to leave is to take care of her seriously sick Mother, but he isn’t finished talking.

“I should have known this was going to happen sooner or later,” he spits. “The pretty, perfect mayor’s girl has gotten tired of slumming it with the miner. Well you know what, Madge? I don’t have the time, or energy, for your bullshit. So just go home, and don’t come back here.”

“Gale, this is all one big misunderstanding,” Madge tries to plead, but Gale isn’t having any of it.

“I don’t want to see your face ever again,” he says in a low voice. “It’s _ your _people that are starving mine. I don’t want anything to do with you ever again.”

And with that he steps inside his house and slams the door.

* * *

Madge wants to sob, but it seems that her tears have dried up. 

Besides, it’s hard to cry over a break up when the world is quite literally falling in flames around you.

That’s why she’s completely dry-eyed when she enters her house. She takes off her shoes and goes up to Mother’s room.

Dr. Klein looks up from Madge’s seat beside the bed and smiles. He wears an overly-starched white button-up that has ruffles on the front that makes him look like a misplaced pirate.

“Margaret,” he sighs happily. “It has been too long. Far too long.”

“How is my Mother?” Madge asks, not in the mood for these games.

“I’ve finished conducting a successful round of electroshock therapy,” Dr. Klein answers. “She seems to be responding well to it.”

A flutter of hope begins to grow in Madge’s heart, but Dr.Klein immediately crushes it with his heel.

“However, it’s clear her condition is deteriorating rapidly,” he continues languidly. “As time progresses, she will need more and more intensive medical intervention.”

“You are 17 now, Margaret,” Dr. Klein unnecessarily reminds her. “And since you no longer qualify for the Quarter Quell, it’s time for you to seriously start considering what plan of action you will take in regards to your future.”

“It sounds like you have a suggestion,” Madge says with narrowed eyes.

“Indeed I do,” Dr. Klein stands up and waddles over to her. He takes her hands in his much meatier ones. “If you want your Mother to survive the year, she will need an on-call doctor with as much experience as I do.”

“If,” Dr. Klein stresses the word. “You agree to marry me, I will agree to relocating both you and your Mother to my home in the Capital.”

Dark spots swarm her vision as she struggles to not faint.

“I...need time to consider this offer,” she says weakly.

Dr. Klein’s smile slips away. Dropping her hands, he says, “If I were you, I would consider quickly. Time is something your Mother does not have a lot of.”

“The end of the school year!” Madge blurts. “It’s just a month away. I wish to finish school first.”

Klein pauses to consider this. He raises a pudgy hand, fingers nearly purple as they’re suffocated under too-tight rings, to stroke his silver beard.

“I suppose that’s reasonable enough,” he finally acquiesces. “After all, I would want the Mother of my children to value education.”

Madge has to physically restrain herself from gagging. He was old enough for _ her _ to be _ his _ grandchild.

Her entire body tenses when he steps closer. He’s only a few inches taller than her, leaving his face uncomfortably close. He also smells distinctly of beef.

Bringing up a lock of her hair, he brings the strands up to his lips and kisses it.

“So soft,” he croons, letting her hair drop. “I cannot wait to kiss the rest of you…”

“N-not until marriage,” Madge stutters in a tiny voice, wishing more than anything that she could drop dead right then and there.

“Of course,” Klein agrees, to her surprise. “That’s what drew me in to you, initially. You 12 girls don’t go running around spreading your legs for anything that can penetrate you. You live for your husbands. That’s the way it should be.”

Klein gathers his things and leaves without saying anything further to her. Madge mechanically goes over and kisses her Mother’s forehead before descending down the stairs to take a seat at her piano.

Though she stares at the keys, she doesn’t see them. When she places her fingers on the notes, and presses down, she hears nothing as she stares straight ahead at the window in front of her.

All that she is aware of is her reflection staring back at her. Except the woman in the glass isn’t Madge. It’s Aunt Maysilee, watching sadly with her neck torn open.

* * *

She stops going over to the Everdeen’s. What hope does she have in trying to help Katniss get out alive when she has no way of saving herself?

Mother begins to grow healthier with her new treatments, and that of course, makes Father happier as well. There’s further good news: in perhaps a way of acknowledging 12’s “good behavior” there’s a sudden torrent of food and other much-needed supplies. 

As spring thaws the ice of fear and hopelessness that had frozen over 12 during that long winter, Madge feels numb to it all. Now that she was detached from it all, it was so plain to see that this was just the next step in the Capital’s full proof cycle of control. First, they broke you down. Then they made you complacent. Finally, they rewarded your complacency. Then they broke you even more.

It’s as if a shadow has settled over the dim light her life once had. And the scariest part? Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness.

* * *

The splatters of raindrops against the glass of her window makes her look up from her books. Without her noticing, the sky had turned a dark gray, a clear signal of an incoming rainstorm. For hours, she’s read nothing but numbers and formulas related to coal mass production and consumption. 

Deciding to take a break, Madge gets up from her desk and slowly makes her way downstairs and out onto the back porch.

The air was thick with the incoming tension of a storm, yet the breeze was calm. Already, the smell of wet earth permeated throughout the garden as Madge took in the blooming cosmos dully. 

Strange how even with water droplets beginning to hit her skin, she feels as if she’s slowly being buried alive, one speck of dirt at a time.

“How did you know I was coming?”

Madge’s neck turns slowly. Opening the white picket gate, Gale enters her family garden. Amongst the growing flowers, he shoots out like a weed.

“I didn’t,” she answers flatly, a gust of wind blowing her hair off her shoulders. Distantly, a wind chime sings.

“Well, I guess I got lucky, then,” Gale says awkwardly as he makes his way to her on the stone-made path. “I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

A tremor of anger ripples through her jaw at his audacity to come here and chit-chat with her.

“Why are you here?” Madge snaps, hands curling into fists.

Gale blinks in surprise at her curt tone before his eyes lower in shame.

“I miss you,” he confesses, rubbing at the collar of his worn flannel. “I came to apologize to you for what I said...It was uncalled for.”

“All you ever do is hurt me and then half-assedly apologize for doing so,” Madge tells him angrily. “Am I a joke to you?”

Gale flinches as if she’s struck him.

“Of course not, Madge!” he denies vehemently. “I’m a fuck up, I know I am, and at this point, it’s common knowledge that you deserve better than me, but I...I just want-”

“I could give a shit what you want, coal miner,” Madge hisses at him. “You’re right, I _ do _deserve better than you.”

Madge knows then and there, that the memory of Gale’s devastated face will remain seared into her mind for the rest of her life. And as much as it feels like she’s drinking a vial of poison, she knows she must deliver the full dose. It was the only way she can cut herself off from him.

It hurt that when all she wanted was him, the feature she was most familiar with of him was his back. Now he’s here in arm’s reach and she has every detail of his face memorized, she must turn him away.

“If you were expecting me to sweep you off your feet and confess my undying love, then sorry, slag, but don’t won’t ever happen,” Madge throws his very words back onto his crushed face. “I didn’t ask for you to be my soulmate either.”

Though she keeps her face impassive, inside Madge crumbles as she watches _ Gale’s _eyes fill with tears. Immediately, she is teleported back to when he was on the kitchen table and crying out in pain. Instead of standing before him as his savior, she was now the one that brought the whip down upon him.

“I don’t ever want to see your face again,” she whispers, staring into his glassy gray eyes.

She storms back inside and slams the door shut. Now she could marry Klein and save her Mother.

She should celebrate her emancipation from the mystic bound that had strung her to Gale. Instead, her head rings as her chest caves in on itself.

* * *

Tomorrow Madge graduates from high school. She doesn’t know when Klein will return from the Capital to take her away forever, so she takes some time now to walk through the only home she has ever known.

Her first stop is Town Square. 

She walks slowly past shops she has frequented for the past 17 years. They are all made of dark wood, but their shutters were once brightly painted. They’ve dulled considerably, and the coat of coal that dusts every crevice of 12 doesn’t help matters, but every shop still carries a character that makes it unique from its neighbor. It is warm and inviting.

Her legs come to a stop in front of the abandoned Sweet Shop. Here was finally a store that was neither warm nor inviting. No, it was a truly Donner relic: barren and forgotten.

She steps up to the filthy glass and presses her hands against it, trying to peer into the dark building. There are empty counters and shelves that once housed candies. Now, all it had were ghosts.

Madge closes her eyes as she imagines a 12 identical and yet completely different from the one she lived in now.

Every morning, Gale would kiss her awake. She’d be upset that she hadn’t woken up before he’d gone out to the woods to make him breakfast, but he’d assure her he wanted her to be well-rested more than he wanted her griddles.

The smell of coffee and cream would drift through the house as she’d wake their lovely children up. In this particular fantasy, she was with child, and Gale would dote on her even more than usual, settling their large family onto the kitchen table Gale built himself as a wedding gift to her.

Once everyone was fed, they’d go downstairs and joyously go about making sweets from fresh ingredients Gale had foraged, with the knowledge that everything they made would bring happiness to the entirety of 12.

After a long day of bustling, happy customers, the kids would return from school and they’d eat dinner together. Maybe Madge would play her family the piano while they relaxed. Or maybe her son or daughter would play for her as she proudly listened on. Finally, they would retire to bed, and Gale would gather her into his large arms and kiss her until she could not keep her eyes open anymore.

Except Madge does open her eyes. And the Sweet Shop is as empty as ever. Shaking her head, she departs from Town and begins her journey into the Seam, heart heavier than it was when she had set out.

The views of the Seam doesn’t lighten her mood. The small, poorly constructed houses barely stand upright as Madge walks past them. The sidewalks are made of dirt here, and are narrower and filled with weeds. As always, the place smells slightly of sewage, and vacant eyes are abundant as her own roam around.

But there are more children in Seam, and Madge notes with faint happiness that they are carefree as they run around barefoot and gleeful. Of course, to them, the Quarter Quell was simply a break from the torture of wondering if any of their older siblings would be picked. After all, what is the mockingjay to a child?

Coward that she is, she keeps her head down as she passes the skeleton of what was once the Hob and the entrance to the mines. She’s more emotionally fragile than she thought she would be, and to see two hallmarks of Gale’s life, one destroyed and one currently destroying him is more than she can handle at the moment.

Finally, she realizes what her subconscious destination was all along.

_ The meadow _

As she stands upon a grassy hill, she stares at the electrified fence. A cloud passes over her, darkening the field.

She recalls standing in this exact spot two years prior and dreaming of adventure. How pathetically stupid she had been to think a forest could be her salvation.

With a deprecating laugh, she turns around and walks home. Her eyes burn the entire time, but she doesn’t let the tears fall. There was no longer a point in crying uselessly.

* * *

Her excursion leaves her exhausted. Upon returning home, she slips off her shoes and heads up straight to her bedroom with the intention of flinging herself onto her bed and sleeping for as long as she can.

“What are you doing here?” Madge half gasps, half shrieks after opening her bedroom door.

“To congratulate you, of course,” Klein grins widely, revealing his artificially white teeth. “I heard you received top marks on your exams. You did wonderful, doll.”

“Why are you here in my _ room _ , _ ” _Madge demands angrily.

Klein’s grin melts into a smirk.

“To carry you off to your happily ever after, dollface,” he chuckles. “Our train leaves in an hour.”

“No,” Madge protests immediately. “I- I’m not ready!”

Outside, thunder claps and roars and Klein’s square face darkens.

“I have been more than patient with you,” he hisses, getting off of her bed and stalking towards her. “You have a boyfriend, don’t you?”

“No-” Madge is cut off by Klein wrapping his two meaty hands around her neck.

“You do!” he snarls, blue eyes nearly pupilless in rage. “Only a lowly whore would refuse to be my wife!”

Her breath comes out in desperate gasps as her hands try and fail to loosen his grip on her neck. With a roar, he throws her down onto the floor. 

She’s too breathless to cry out in pain, and before she can reorient herself, Klein straddles her and shoves her onto her back violently. His large stomach rolls over onto hers in a way that makes her want to die, his rancid beef stench clogging up her lungs.

“I will make you mine,” he promises venomously. “We will see your Father refuse your marriage once my child is in you.”

Madge does the only thing she can do. She screams for help at the top of her lungs.

And is rewarded with a swift slap to the cheek.

“Do you want me to strangle you again, my precious doll?” Klein asks sardonically. “I found the act rather erotic, if I’m being honest.”

She meets his gaze straight on. And spits on his face

“Go fuck yourself,” she snarls.

Klein’s naturally red face takes on a purple hue as he begins to vibrate in anger. His large eyes become tiny as they narrow in on her face, and Madge braces herself for the pain as he pulls his arm back, meaty hand drawn into a fist. 

The sound of glass shattering draws Madge out of her fear-induced haze, and she watches in shock as Klein’s eyes widen before falling over to his side. 

“I agree,” Mother’s revealed form says, shattered glass pieces of her bedside vase around her feet. “He should go fuck himself.”

“Mama!” Madge cries, scrambling into her Mother’s embrace, her tears immediately dampening the front of her white nightgown

“Madge,” Mother whispers, holding onto her so tightly Madge feels as if she can return to the time where Mother’s heart pumped blood straight into her own. “I am so sorry. I am so very sorry.”

“You saved me,” Madge corrects her through her tears. “Thank you, Mama.”

“If you want to knock out a neurologist,” Klein groans from his spot on her floor. “You should know where to aim, you stupid bitch.”

Madge looks up to Mother and sees her eyes clenched tightly in pain. The physical excursion of saving her had triggered a massive headache.

Taking her Mother’s frail hands in her own, she leads her to her closet and gently sits her down on the ground.

“Madge,” Mother whispers tearfully, but Madge simply gives her a confident smile.

“I’ll be right back,” she promises with false-cheerfulness. Stepping out of the closet, she shuts the door and retrieves the key for it from the dresser right beside it. She can hear Klein standing up as she inserts the key, grabbing her lamp from the same dresser, and slamming it into the key, thus effectively jamming the door and protecting Mother.

“You should have worried more about yourself,” Klein breathes heavily. Madge turns around to face him, hand clutching the half broken lamp tightly.

The side of his head is bleeding and there is a grimace of pain on his face, but for the most part, he seems unfazed. Without giving him another moment to plot, Madge throws the lamp she’s holding at his head.

He’s able to duck, but Madge is already running out of her room down to the kitchen.

She can hear Klein bounding after her, so she jumps over the final 10 stairs. The impact hurts her knees, but it’s given her some distance from Klein, so she continues running as soon as she regains her balance. 

Nearly skidding and falling on the linoleum as she rounds into the kitchen, Madge skampers to the knives and pulls out their largest one.

Klein rushes in a moment later and takes in her defensive stance, knife held out threateningly.

“What are you going to do?” he taunts as he breathes heavily for air. “Stab me? Kill me? Do you think Thread will let you get away with that?”

“I’d rather be dead than be touched by you!” Madge shouts as she struggles to stop the tremors in her hand.

Klein appraises her for a moment before throwing his head back to laugh, a loud, cackling sound.

“Our lives are not our own,” he says mirthfully. “You deny me, you deny the woman who gave you life, life. Is this the destiny you wish to carve for yourself, doll?”

Madge wonders how Katniss had been able to hold out the berries with the intention of eating them. She realizes in that moment, she isn’t a revolutionary. She’s a victim that lacks the courage to change her life.

But how can she betray the very Mother who, just moments ago, had saved her life? Who, a few months ago, had given her desperately needed medicine away without hesitation?

Her fear turns into shame and that shame turns into slag that weighs her down until she can no longer stand. Falling to her knees, Madge drops the knife is favor of covering her face as she sobbed her broken heart out.

“I can’t live like this,” she chokes out through her tears.

“Oh, my beautiful doll,” Klein sighs, walking over and tipping her chin up with his fingers. Her vision of him is blurred as her tears continue to pour out of her burning eyes. “You’re resistant now, but I promise I will be a good husband. Besides, any life in the Capital is better than one here in this shithole.”

Madge’s tears flow faster. She didn’t want to go live in the Capital. District 12 was her home, and no matter how terrible it was, she couldn’t just get up and leave it.

“Now get up,” Klein urges gently. “We have a train to catch. I’ve already booked us a honeymoon suite in 4.”

The sound of glass shattering interrupts them for the second time. Madge turns around in shock and sees a man’s arm reach through the shattered glass window of the side door and open the door from the inside. 

A moment later, a furious Gale Hawthorne enters.

“And I just booked you a room in hell,” he growls before pouncing at Klein.

“Gale!” Madge shrieks as he begins to violently strangle the older man, his short limbs flailing uselessly as Gale easily dominates him. “Stop, please stop!”

She throws herself on him and uses all her strength to tear him off of Klein, trying and failing terribly.

After a few minutes, he finally loosens his grip, but when he gets off of Klein, he immediately gathers her into his arms, turning her so she faced his chest. 

His heart beats rapidly against her cheek, and his familiar masculine scent surrounds her in a way that comforts her so greatly, she can’t help but start crying all over again as she buries her face in his cotton shirt, the heat of him emanating through the fabric like a fire hearth in the dead of winter. The muscles of his arms flex as he pulls her even closer to him.

“So,” Klein half wheezes, half sneers. “This is your pimp.”

“He’s also about to become your executioner,” Gale snarls even as he gently strokes the back of her head. “They must make any fuckhole a doctor if you’re dumb enough to think I’d let you hurt Madge and live.”

“You think your empty threats scare me, coal miner?” Klein snarls right back. “Do that and Romulus will sodomize you to death with his baton.”

Madge’s body stiffens at Klein’s threat. She’s suddenly so scared she feels as if she’s about to freeze from the inside out.

“G-Gale, you need to leave,” Madge whispers desperately. She tries to pull away from him, but his grip on her doesn’t relent.

“They can only charge me with your murder if there’s proof,” Gale tells him confidently. “I can think of 10 ways to kill you so that it looks like suicide on the top of my head. 10 more where I can kill you however way I want, and hide your ugly fucking body where even the hungriest dog couldn’t find it.”

Madge glances back at Klein and finds that his face has turned rather pale.

“But I’ll compromise with you, since I know Madge hates violence,” he continues. “You get the fuck out of here, and never show your goddamn face again, and I promise I won’t kill you in your sleep.”

“T- This is preposterous!” Klein stammers. “You filthy criminal, you think you can threaten me like this?”

“It’s not a threat,” Gale responds calmly. “If you forcibly take Madge away, I will spend the rest of my life tracking you down. And that’s a promise.”

“You know what? This slut isn’t worth all of this nonsense,” Klein says angrily. “Go on and keep her, and start saving money for the abortion you’ll need when one of your fellow miners knock her up.

“Shut up and get out before I beat your ass again, you fucking freak,” Gale snaps impatiently. Madge hears him mutter some more angry words, and then a moment later, the front door opens and is slammed shut again.

She feels herself melting into his embrace, the feeling of security washing over for the first time since Klein proposed to her.

“You’re safe now,” Gale whispers into her hair as he kisses the top of her head. “I promise.”

Madge looks up into his gray eyes. They were her stars, she realizes as she finds herself getting lost in them, as she always did whenever she met Gale’s gaze. 

As long as you looked to the stars, shadows would fall behind you.

“Oh, my God!” Madge gasps, remembering who was still stuck in the shadows. “Mother!”

“Is she alright?” Gale asks worriedly.

“She saved me from when Klein- ugh, I locked her in a closet!” Madge explains in fragments as she bounds up the stairs, Gale right behind her. “Her head must be hurting so bad!”

She rushes into her room and remembers in panic that she had locked her Mother in.

“Mother!” Madge cries, running to her closet and banging on the door. “Are you alright?”

She gets no response.

“Let me get her out,” Gale gently moves her out of the way. Madge watches in apprehension as he crouches down to fiddle with the handle. 

“I assume you’re the one who busted the lock,” he says as he gets back up. “You did a pretty good job.”

“Can you get her out or not?” Madge snaps, her worry for her poor Mother growing with each second. 

“Sure I can,” Gale responds. “But you’re going to need a new closet door.”

Before Madge can ask what that means, Gale replicates the move that got him inside the house: he punches a hole through the door.

Madge watches in first shock then apprehension as she opens the door. As soon as her Mother is revealed Madge darts towards her.

“Mother!” Madge cries as she gathers her limp form in her arms. “Mama, are you alright?”

Slowly, her eyes open.

“Did he hurt you?” she whispers, hardly audible.

“No,” Madge whispers back, tears streaming out of her eyes. “You saved me.”

“How many times must I tell you?” Mother breathes, eyes closing once more. “It is you who saves me everyday.”

“Let me put her back in bed,” Gale offers. Madge nods tearfully and slowly transfers her into his arms.

Once his grip is secured on her, he easily lifts her up and Madge leads him to her parent’s bedroom, where he carefully deposits her on the master bed.

Wiping away her tears, Madge quickly pulls out a syringe filled with morphling and climbs onto the bed beside her Mother to carefully inject her with the painkiller.

When she’s done, she finds Gale looking at her with a shocked expression.

“That’s what Mrs. E gave me,” he starts bewilderedly. “Madge...did you give me your Mom’s medicine?”

“Technically, she gave it to you,” Madge tells him flatly, not having the energy to lie. 

She can tell Gale wants to ask her more questions, but he seems to notice how emotionally exhausted she is and opts to simply take a seat by the bedside chair. Madge curls up against her Mother’s frail form as her mind replays the events that had just transpired.

Suddenly, she sits up as she realizes something quite important.

“Why are you here?” she asks uncertainly.

Gale jolts in his chair, blinking rapidly as he wakes up from his impromptu nap.

“Well, in case you need anything,” he replies awkwardly. Madge suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. 

“I mean why are you here at my _ house _,” Madge explains tiredly.

His features immediately become serious.

“I had been meaning to come over for a while,” he answers. “But today...I just knew something was wrong. I knew you needed me.”

“Why did you want to come over?” she asks tentatively.

“Because I love you, Madge. I love you, and I realized that while I may have ruined things between us...I just needed you to know that. I’ve actually loved you for a while, but I was just too scared to admit it. I mean, why _ would _you love a bastard like me anyways, but whenever I-”

“Gale,” Madge interrupts with a watery smile. “I love you too, dummy.”

His lips stretch into the largest smile she has ever seen on his face, and she can tell by his eyes if her Mother wasn’t in between them, he’d kiss her.

“The only reason I said all those terrible things to you was because of Klein,” Madge admits, averting her eyes. “He was using my Mother’s declining health to blackmail me into marrying him. I couldn’t do that with you around, but now…”

“But now, you’ll know to speak to your Father about such things.”

Madge looks up in shock to see her Father standing in the doorway to his room.

Gale immediately shoots out of his chair.

“Mr. Mayor, sir, I was just-”

Gale is silenced by her Father raising a single hand.

“I heard everything, boy,” he tells him calmly, though his gaze is trained on Madge. “Margaret, I found a replacement doctor for your Mother a month ago. Klein shouldn’t even have been in 12 today. Why on Earth did you not tell me he had proposed to you?”

“I...I didn’t want you to choose between your daughter or wife,” Madge admits in a small voice, both horrified and elated at how things had turned out. Mother would have a doctor taking care of her after all!

“So, instead you made the choice yourself,” Father says, pursing his lips tightly. Madge hangs her head shamefully as she nods.

“You’ll have to get used to her selflessness, Gale. I know she can be quite a handful.”

Madge looks up in shock for the second time. Father is smiling warmly at Gale who looks like he’s just been plopped into the middle of District 2.

To his credit, he recovers fairly quickly.

“I’m well-aware of that characteristic of hers,” he chuckles slightly. “But I know she can’t help it. Her heart is too soft.”

“Indeed it is,” Father agrees quietly. He steps forward and clasps Gale’s shoulder tightly. “And you’ll keep it that way, Gale?”

Gale meets her Father’s gaze head on. 

“I’ll die before I hurt her.”

* * *

Her fingers fly across the keys of her piano as she plays out an old love song. Yellow sunlight streams into the parlor room, and when she peers into her reflection, Maysilee is nowhere to be seen. It’s simply her own content face.

Despite everything...Madge was _ happy. _

People had food. Mother had medicine. She had been accepted into the Mine’s engineering program, and Gale loved her.

While her heart still ached for Katniss and Peeta...she still could not help but smile as she played her piano.

A knock on the side door interrupts her, and she gets up from her stool and practically flies to the door.

The moment the white door is opened, she flings herself into Gale’s arms, who catches her and twirls her around with a laugh.

“Somebody missed me,” he teases as he sets her down.

“I miss you whenever you’re not with me,” she tells him honestly. He rewards her honesty with a sweet kiss.

“Wait!” Madge gasps against his lips, pulling away from him. “I have something for you!”

“I’d rather have you,” Gale growls, reaching for her. Madge ducks away from him with a giggle and rushes towards the fridge. From it she retrieves a bowl of sliced strawberries sprinkled with sugar.

Gale’s eyes grow fond at the sight of the familiar fruit. Really, when it came down to it, it was this red berry that brought the two of them together.

“Let’s sit on the porch swing,” Madge suggests, bringing her water flask in case either of them got thirsty. Gale wordlessly agrees and steps back outside.

She settles into his side as he tucks his arm around her, the swing gently swinging beneath them. The summer breeze was warm and tranquil around them.

Madge lifts a strawberry half and brings it to Gale’s lips. He diligently takes the fruit into his mouth, but before pulling away, he licks her fingertips clean of its stickiness.

Feeling her heart speed up considerably, Madge quickly reaches down to grab a berry for herself. 

They had been boyfriend-girlfriend for nearly two weeks now, and she still was not used to all the sensations he created within her from the most simplest of actions. 

For a while, they just pleasantly enjoy the fruit and weather, Gale swinging them with his long legs as a wind chime rang out a pleasant melody in the background.

“You know, I always thought your thing for strawberries was really cute,” Gale admits with a chuckle. “I’d always check during lunch to see if you were eating them.”

Madge smiles at his admission. Setting the empty bowl down, she throws her half-bare legs over his and nestles in closer to him. Gale immediately pulls her even closer to him, his free arm coming down to wrap around her thighs. The heat of his hand on the back of her thigh makes her blood sing for him.

“Can I tell you something?” she whispers to him. He looks down at her and nods in encouragement. 

“I love strawberries because I love you.”

He stares at her with so much heat in his eyes, she feels as if she cannot breathe. Without breaking their gaze, his hands slide up and down her until she is pulled into his lap, his lips melting onto hers like honey in warm milk.

“Do you feel that?” with his lips against hers, her own lips move as if she’s speaking the same words. “My heart beating inside of you.”

“I feel it,” she spoke back into his lips.

The rest of the afternoon is lost to strawberry-tasting kisses.

* * *

She rides on that high for about a week before it crashes down.

In an attempt to be a better friend, Madge returned to the Everdeen home to see if she could help with any last minute Quell-prep. Instead, she had been greeted with Katniss’ crushing melancholy.

As she drags her feet home with Gale walking beside her, she reflects on how terrible of a person she was. Her best friend would more than likely be dead at the end of the month, and here she was dallying around as if she lived in a fairy tale.

“What’s wrong, Madge?” Gale asks as they head towards her home.

“Nothing,” she mumbles. “Just tired.”

She knows how absurd this is to say to a man who spent 12 hours down in a mine, but Gale doesn’t say anything to her and allows them to finish their walk in silence. 

Gale seats himself tiredly at the kitchen table as Madge reheats some food for him. Before, this domesticity between them thrilled her, now it feels like a cheap attempt at playing house.

As she’s plating his food, the phone down the hall begins to ring. Setting his plate in front of him, she rushes to the phone.

“Hello?” she answers.

_ “Oh, thank goodness, you’re home.” _

“Father? What’s wrong?”

_ “Nothing, nothing. I’ve just heard word that starting today they’re going to slash the curfew time.” _

“What? When does it start now?”

_ “In half an hour.” _

Madge’s eyes widen in horror as this information sinks in.

“Father, Gale is here! He can’t possibly reach back home in 30 minutes!”

There was a long, uncomfortable pause.

_ “I suppose he can stay in the guest room tonight.” _

“But how will his family know he’s safe?”

_ “The mine captain has a telephone...his boy will have enough time to let his Mother know he’s safe.” _

“Alright. Thank you Father.”

_ “I’ll be working late tonight, so don’t wait up.” _

After saying goodbye, Madge hangs up and returns to the kitchen.

“What’s wrong?” Gale asks immediately.

“Nothing,” Madge answers. “Just...curfew starts in 30 minutes.”

“Shit!” Gale springs up in panic. “I can’t-”

“Whoa there!” Madge quickly tries to calm him down. “I talked to my Father. He’s calling someone right now that will tell Hazelle you’re spending the night here.”

Gale’s eyebrows shoot up and his mouth closes. The reality of their situation only now dawns upon Madge.

“Let’s finish our meal,” Madge says in an attempt to alleviate the sudden tension. 

Gale finishes his food before her, and for a moment he just watches her eat.

“I’m starting at the mine the day after tomorrow,” she blurts before he can say anything that will make her embarrassed. 

“That’s right,” Gale recalls proudly. “You’ll be coming down wearing those bright yellow helmets, telling us what to do.”

“No I won’t,” Madge denies with a smile. “Only you.”

Gale rolls his eyes. “I believe that.”

She finishes up her meal and Gale helps her wash the dishes. Once again her gloom from earlier returns. How could she feel a jolt of electricity every time her arm brushed against Gale’s when everything around them was on fire?

“I’ll run you a bath,” she tells him without meeting his eyes once he’s dried the last plate. “I’ve got to tidy up the guest room a bit.”

“Madge,” Gale sighs but she’s already turned and walking towards the stairs.

The guest room’s bathroom did not have a bath, so she leads him to her bathroom. The strain between them tightens as Gale stands in the middle of her bedroom as she runs the warm water. 

She glances up at him from the bathroom and finds him taking in the room very closely. Suddenly, she’s embarrassed at how pink and frilly it is. It was a room more fitting for Posy than a nearly 18 year old.

“This is exactly what I would imagine your room to be like,” Gale tells her amusedly, picking up a giant teddy bear Mr. Abernathy had brought back to her from the Capital.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Madge asks with a huff.

“That you’re a pretty princess,” Gale replies with a smirk. Madge refocuses on the bath.

“It’s nearly filled,” she says as she walks back into the room. “I’ll go get some clothes for you...my Dad’s clothes shouldn’t be too small for you.”

“Hey, isn’t your Mom home?” Gale suddenly asks, looking uncomfortable.

“She is,” Madge affirms. “But she’s...you know, out of it.”

“I see.”

And with that she leaves to her parents' room, and indeed finds Mother completely “out of it”. Feeling strangely relieved, she rummages through a chest until she finds a pair of pajama pants and tank top that should fit Gale.

She returns to her room and passes the clothes on to Gale, who accepts it and goes to take his bath. Madge does her best to try not and imagine what Gale looks like in her tub and goes to change the guest room linens and dust the room a bit.

He still is bathing when she finishes, so she tiredly flings herself onto her fluffy white comforter, staring up at her ceiling blankly as she thinks of Katniss. 

The sound of a door opening pulls her from her somber musings and Madge looks over only to nearly fall off her bed.

“The shirt was too tight at the shoulders,” Gale explains with a grimace, a hand going up to gingerly touch his shoulder blade. “If I wear it for too long it’ll irritate the scars.”

Ignoring that a wet, shirtless Gale Hawthorne stood in the middle of her bedroom, she gestures for him to come closer sadly. 

“Is your back still hurting after the bath?” she asks as he comes closer, sitting up and scooting over so there’s room for him.

He just shrugs. “It always hurts.”

She blinks to keep the tears out of her eyes and as soon as he’s close enough she tugs him down onto her bed. He resists, but Madge doesn’t relent, and finally he allows himself to lay down on his stomach, exposing his back to her for the first time since they were at the Everdeen home.

A strangled gasp escapes her as she takes in the landscape of his back. His olive skin is marred by angry white scarring that runs up and down the plane of his back, rigid and unforgiving in their reminder of what happened to him 

“Hideous, huh?” Gale sighs into her pillow.

Her reply is to lean down and kiss the scar closest to her. 

“Nothing about you is hideous,” she murmurs against the scar tissue. “Every scar is simply proof that no matter what, you keep on fighting.”

She continues to kiss her way up his back, making sure to kiss every scar. As she does so, she can physically feel the tension leave his body.

Once she’s reached the top, she pauses at his right shoulder, where there is the largest concentration of crisscrossing scars that practically create a mound on his shoulder. The very shoulder whose bone she had seen.

She leaves a lingering kiss there, and when she finally pulls away, Gale rolls onto his back and pulls her down against his bare chest. As soon as she’s secured against him, he rolls himself back over, trapping her beneath him and her mattress.

Her squeak of surprise is smothered by Gale’s lips, and her eyes flutter close as she lets him devour her.

Without warning, though, he pulls back to look at her.

“Why did you stop?” Madge can’t help but whine.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go right back to that,” he cackles before quickly sobering up. “But first, you need to tell me what’s been bothering you all day.”

Madge sighs at his clever ambush. Knowing he wouldn’t budge until she told him, she relents.

“I feel guilty,” she confesses in a small voice, unable to look at him. “The world around us is crumbling, and we’re kissing like we’re in a garden.”

“Don’t you think it’s in a time like this love is needed the most?” Gale asks her so seriously she can’t help but look up at him. “And don’t you think, when our lives have been so hard, we should allow ourselves this happiness?”

“I know you’re worried about Katniss,” he continues. “I am too, Madge. Beyond words. But I can feel worried for my friend while also enjoying my time with you. I just think, after everything I’ve been through, the least I deserve is seeing you smile.”

Madge reaches up to tenderly stroke his cheek.

“You’re right,” she whispers. “You’re always right, my love.”

When Gale kisses her again, it’s different from every other time. In this kiss is a promise. A purpose. It is, she realizes lightheadedly, destined.

He had always had her heart and soul. But that night, she lets him have her body as well.

* * *

  


His entire body aches as he leaves the mine. Each step is made even harder with the film of coal dust that coats every inch of his lungs. Every shift at the mine really makes him aware just how short his life will be.

As his eyes adjust to daylight, he finds the searing pain in his back alleviating. Knowing only one person could cause that, he looks around and finds Madge standing a little away, writing something on a clipboard furiously as her instructor spoke. 

A mushy smile spreads across his face as he looks at her, but he’s jolted back to reality by a jab to his ribs.

“Dude, you are so whipped,” Thom snickers. “You’re looking at the District princess like you’re about to cream your pants.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Gale comes his automatic reply, forcing his eyes away from Madge. 

“I’m so happy she’s gonna be working at the mine’s,” Thom sighs dreamily. “Gives me something to look forward to every day.”

“Keep this up and you’ll find a pickaxe in your skull,” Gale growls threateningly. 

“Chill bro,” Thom snickers. “I would never go after your girl. Besides, blondes don’t do it for me.”

“Right.”

He parts ways with his friend and makes his way to Victor’s Village. Tomorrow is the day of the reaping, and he has a long-overdue conversation with Katniss.

He lets himself into her house, knowing the pin that was used for their fancy electronic lock. 

The large seems empty for the most part, and as he walks across it he takes in its stiffness. 

“Gale.”

He turns around and finds Katniss seated by a window, staring out the glass with a blank face.

He comes over to her and takes a seat across from her.

“I’m going to ask Madge to marry me soon,” is how he begins. They were never ones for beating around the bush. “She’s going to become a mine engineer, so money shouldn’t be too bad.”

Katniss looks away from the window and stares at him with an indiscernible expression.

“If anything happens to you, Prim can live with us,” he promises. “She and Madge get along, and with Madge’s pay, there should always be food.”

“I was going to ask you,” Katniss says in a ragged voice. “Before I left, to look after Prim. I should have known with you, I don’t even need to ask.”

“No,” Gale agrees. “You never do, Katniss.”

Katniss reaches over and takes his hand in hers. For a while, the two of them just sit like this. It’s only when her tears fall on his skin does he speak again.

“But Katniss, you should know something,” he tells her gently. “From the bottom of my heart, I believe in you. I know, I just fucking _ know _, that you could win the Quell.”

Katniss opens her mouth to speak, but he stops her with a shake of his head.

“I also know that you want Peeta to come home instead of you,” he continues. “And while I don’t really care for the guy...I know I can’t change your mind. Instead, I’m here to offer you my unconditional support. Remember my snares. Remember our days in the woods. Remember every tear and laughter. Remember that we lost our Father’s and didn’t lose ourselves.”

Katniss’ face crumples and she launches herself into his arms. Gale holds her to him tightly, his adolescence in his arms.

“You are my best friend,” she cries into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry for everything. I love you, Gale.”

“I love you too, Katniss,” Gale replies as tears fall from his own eyes. “And I won’t ever forget you. Neither will 12. Or Panem. You’ve touched all of our hearts with your kindness.”

Katniss cries in his arms until sunset, and when she finally extracts herself from him, he has to go.

“I meant every word,” he says as he stands in the doorway to a much calmer Katniss.

“I know,” she says with a tiny smile. “Thank you, Gale. For everything.”

Gale walks away from Katniss wishing for the revolution he has dreamed of since he was a child.

_ If it comes _ he vows to himself _ I will fight until a new world has been created. _

* * *

Madge knows that she should be in the square watching the interviews with everyone else, but lately she’s just felt so exhausted that she truly does not have the energy to get up out of her house.

Instead, she sits alone in her parlor and watches the screen. She takes in the words of every tribute carefully, dissecting Katniss’ opponents and calculating her odds of winning. The sheer number of tributes practically pleading for a rule change shocks her, but she continues to focus on the statistics of it all.

Her mind wanders from this as Katniss gets up to be interviewed, and Madge smiles bitterly at how beautiful her friend looks in her wedding dress. 

And then it catches on fire. 

Madge knows that everyone in Panem is thinking the same thing.

The fire of the rebellion still burned on. 

“Go Katniss!” Madge can’t help but holler. She was no longer afraid of revolution. They were already being killed. She’d much rather die for change than keep things the way they were.

She eventually calms herself down and listens in on the rest of her interview. Her time is up too soon and then it’s Peeta on the stage.

Madge has always found herself to be rational and level-minded. But as Peeta speaks, she realizes just how stupid she’s been.

_ “If it wasn’t for the baby.” _

She stumbles off the couch as if she’s drunk. The trip up to her parents' room is a daze. She’s practically unseeing as she desperately digs around in the drawers.

“Are you looking for a pregnancy test, love?”

Madge turns around so quickly she nearly falls flat on her back.

“M-mother!” she practically shrieks. “What are you talking about?”

“Well you had intercourse with Gale a few weeks ago,” she explains as if this is something every Mother casually discusses with her daughter. “I saw you didn’t take any condom so I-”

“Stop!” Madge cries, holding a hand up to her forehead. “Yes...I need a test.”

“Bottom left drawer.”

As the two of them wait the 15 minutes for the results, Madge paces the length of Mother’s bed anxiously.

“Do you want a baby?” Mother asks her, pausing her pacing.

“I don’t know!” Madge exclaims. “We’re both so young, and everything is so unstable and we don’t have-”

“Margaret,” Mother interrupts gently. “I didn’t ask about any of those things. Do you wish to have a child with Gale?”

She imagines a tiny baby with a head of dark hair in her arms, squalling as Gale looked on beside her with so much love and happiness. They would be a family.

“Yes,” Madge confesses in a whisper, her hands floating down to rest on her stomach. “I do, Mother...I really do.”

Mother picks up the test.

“Well, then congratulations are in order, love,” she announces with a large smile.

* * *

Madge has to resist the urge to vomit. She wants to shield Posy’s eyes from the gruesome scene playing out on the large screen, but she knows that will attract the ire of nearby peacekeepers.

This entire Quell had been a game of utmost anxiety and confusion. She wasn’t sure if the elaborate plan Katniss and her allies had come up with had work, but she just hopes that Katniss will make it as she rushes to the tree.

Not a single person in the square makes a single sound as Katniss picks up her bow and points it up towards the sky. 

She won’t ever forget the look on her friend’s face as she took aim. There was something about this moment, she didn’t know what, that was important beyond words. She just knew it.

The lightning bolt strikes. Katniss releases her arrow. The screen goes dark.

A peacekeeper blows his whistle deafeningly.

“EVERYONE, TO THEIR HOUSES NOW,” he shouts into a loudspeaker. “CURFEW IS IN EFFECT STARTING IMMEDIATELY!”

Madge looks to Gale in panic, and a quick look into his eyes tells her that he also knows that something terrible has happened. 

At that moment, a warning shot goes off, and the square dissolves into sheer chaos. 

Posy’s little hand is yanked from hers as she is separated from the Hawthorne’s, and despite her struggle to rejoin them, the stampede is too powerful, and she’s pushed further away until she has no choice but to go towards her own home.

Madge rushes home; she has no desire to be stopped by any peacekeeper for being out during the sudden curfew.

She’s breathing so hard by the time she enters her house and locks the door behind her, that she can’t help but fall to the floor.

“It’s ok, baby,” she gasps out as she rubs her stomach. “Everything is going to be ok.”

Now if only she could make herself believe that…

After sitting on the floor for a few minutes, Madge comes to an abrupt decision. There was no time to waste. 

Bounding up the stairs to her room, she pulls out her largest luggage bag and begins to pack her things. Tomorrow she would tell Gale she was pregnant and they would get married. Every day they had together was precious, and she was a fool for putting off telling him such an important thing. 

For nearly two hours she packs as meticulously as she can. One bag filled with things she’d keep, the other for things she would sell so she could buy things for their new home.

The sound of the door opening downstairs interrupts her, and she gets up to greet her Father.

Except she isn’t greeted by her Father. 

“Let me go!” she screams as a peacekeeper takes her into his arms and drags her down the stairs. Another one bounds up past them.

Madge continues to struggle until she’s taken into the parlor. 

Romulus Thread stands impassive beside her handcuffed Father, who kneels on the floor.

“Father, what is happening?” Madge whispers as her body goes slack in fear.

He doesn’t reply, just stares at the floor in defeat. A moment later, the peacekeeper that had passed her on the stairs comes in the room carrying her Mother. She’s dumped unceremoniously onto the floor beside her husband.

Madge begins to shake as one of her Mother’s eyes opens to look at her remorsefully.

“David Undersee, I find you guilty of high treason against the state in corroboration with rebel forces,” Thread declares. “Do you contest these charges?”

Father looks up from the ground to meet Thread’s gaze plainly.

“I do not. Long live the revolution.”

Thread pulls out a gun and shoots him in the head.

The scream that tears out of Madge’s throat sounds inhuman, but she’s hardly aware of that as she stares at what used to be her Father’s face, now just a large open wound.

The peacekeeper holding her covers her mouth to silence her, making Madge hyperventilate.

“Madeline Undersee, I find you guilty of attempted murder against a keeper of peace,” Thread pulls out a very familiar looking block of fudge. “Did you really think you could poison me, you stupid whore?”

“Death is the least you deserve, pig,” Mother replies gracefully before looking back up at Madge. “I will love you forever Margaret.”

“Enough,” Thread snarls, before shooting her as well.

When the peacekeeper releases her, she crumples to the floor, the collective blood of her parents soaking her clothes and hair. She cries so hard she can feel the blood vessels in her eyes burst.

She hardly registers being turned around until Thread places his boot on her stomach.

“Did you know I was going to take you with me?” he sneers at her, eyes dark with hatred. “But like the whore you are, you allowed yourself to be defiled and knocked up by a miner. I don’t like my toys used.”

He increases the pressure of his boot on her stomach. 

“Please,” she gasps through her sobs. “This baby is innocent.”

“I don’t give a shit,” is all he says before raising his leg and crushing her stomach.

* * *

“We need to evacuate the District.”

Thom nods, eyes wide and face grim. 

“Just tell me what to do, Gale,” he replies, trying his best to hide his fear.

“Knock on every Seam door,” he instructs his oldest friend. “I’ll take eastside, you west. Tell everyone to go to the Meadow. They’re planning something _ bad _. I know it in my bones.”

“I believe you Gale,” Thom says. He pauses before quickly giving him a hug. “Stay safe...bro.”

“I will bro,” Gale replies with a tight smile. 

The two of them split up and begin their frantic evacuating. Every atom in his body screams at him to go to Madge, but he knows that whatever they plan to do, the Seam will be targeted first. He knows she would never forgive him if innocent people died because he prioritized her first. 

That’s why when the hovercraft flies over him, he braces himself to die. Except the bomb doesn’t fall on the Seam.

It falls on Town.

A terror he’s never known before closes in on him as he sprints towards the Mayor’s Mansion. Around him, burning building crumble as the last moans of dying humans is heard. As he turns towards the hill that leads up the mansion, he has to leap over of half-dead corpse of a child that is still screaming as he burns to death.

He comes to stop when he sees the largest house in the District totally collapsed on fire.

“No!” he shouts as he continues to run again. “NO!”

He jumps through the fiery debris, ignoring how his skin burns. 

“Madge!” he screams maniacally, the smoke burning his eyes and lungs. “Madge, answer me!”

And then he sees it. Those long pianist fingers he’s tenderly held so many times. 

Gale ignores the blistering pain in his hands as he digs Madge out. Slowly, her broken body is revealed to him.

The fire, the smoke, the burning, all of it disappears as the blue of Madge’s eyes are opened to him amongst the dark of the darkest night of his life.

“Madge!” he cries in relief, pulling her limp body into him, her hair stiff with dried blood. “Oh thank God, thank God!”

“Gale,” Madge whispers. “Promise me something.”

“I’ll promise you anything later,” he tells her as he continues freeing her. “We need to get out of here first.”

“It’s too late for me, Gale.”

Gale freezes and jolts his head to look at her. Her eyes are half-closed and her parted lips look white.

“Don’t say that!” he roars. Beyond desperate now, he tugs out her body from the rubble. The smell of charred flesh stops him, and when he looks down he realizes that Madge’s leg was so badly burnt that when he pulled, it had torn off.

He can’t breathe. He can’t breathe. He had just torn off Madge’s leg. 

“Gale,” Madge repeats, her voice weaker. Something in him forces his head to face her even though he can’t breathe. “Please promise me that when I die, you won’t give up.”

Gale’s legs move on his own, drawing them out of the flames and into the remains of what used to be the Undersee garden. Gently, he sets Madge does against a patch of wild lavender that had somehow survived the bomb.

“Don’t leave me,” Gale begs as he begins to sob. “Please, Madge. Please. I can’t live without you. I love you more than anyone I've ever loved.”

“I’m sorry,” Madge breathes, eyes closing for the last time. “The revolution...lives in you.”

Her chest stops rising and falling.

Gale doesn’t know how long he sits there, staring at Madge’s dead body as the world continued to burn around them.

His heart had died alongside her, he knew this. He also knew that he would never experience happiness ever again if he chose to live. 

And that was what he was deciding upon. Every instinct in him told him to take a few steps back in the fire and join Madge forever. The only thing that stops him is his very last promise to Madge.

His entire body shakes as he leans down to kiss her lips for the last time. Despite half her body burnt, her lips were cold.

As Gale gets up and walks away slowly from the other half of his soul, the joy of his life, the light of his world- he knows from this point on he was no longer a living man. 

He was simply vengeance. 

  


**Author's Note:**

> Ok, if you've reached the end, you probably want to kill me. Not that I blame you, but I have always wanted to write a canon-compliant ending for Madge and Gale, while also exploring a soulmate trope, and this, unfortunately, is what came out of it.
> 
> I spent all summer writing this, and while I wanted to break it up into chapters, I just found that it flowed better as one piece. I hope that didn't make reading too hard.
> 
> If you did read all of this, I would like to thank you. Every reader means a lot to me, and I hope that you were able to enjoy this story (Before the ending of course :/)
> 
> Lots of love, 
> 
> Marleen
> 
> P.S
> 
> If you have enjoyed any of my works and would like to show your support, you can buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/9vnRYyIli
> 
> You of course don't have to, but I would appreciate it very much :)


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